Wukong's Way
by OccasionallyIWriteStuff
Summary: Sun gets his chance to take out the leader of the White Fang and finally put an end to their presence in Vale. However, something isn't right about the operation execution. It will take all of Wukong's skill and every parable his mentor taught him to survive and bring the leader to justice. Future AU.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: In Funblade and Amipiai's future AU from tumblr again. This is going to focus on Sun and not be a one-shot. I will end up creating an origin story for Sun in this story at some point. Also, figured out it's difficult to write Sun. We don't know a bunch about him so I tried to make him resemble his inspiration from Journey to the West. Smart, charming, strong, energetic. Haven't had a chance to use mischievous yet but first chapter right? Thanks for clicking._

* * *

Sun leaned his back against the had bark of the tree. It was probably around ten in the morning and he was on his usual morning walk. The wind was whispering through the forest casually, almost as if it was carrying suggestions across the land. It was soothing to Sun. The wind washing over him while he sat on the tree branch almost felt like cool water enveloping his entire body. It was peaceful.

Wukong nearly fell out of the tree as a series of sharp beeps rang out from his hip. Before he moved to answer his scroll; Sun coughed and readied his voice. He pressed the center jewel to open it and noticed who was calling. The scroll read _Vale Police Department: Chief Az_ in bright white letters at the top of the screen. Sun pressed the accept button and held the device up to his ear. "You have Wukong."

"Sun." The voice was partially obscured by static. Sun jumped from the branch he had been in and moved closer to the center of the clearing. "You told me to call you as soon as I had some news on your operation." The signal had been remedied. Now Sun could tell that the chief's voice was relatively neutral, but with undertones of something else. Anxiousness? In all Sun's years of working with Az, he had never once seemed anxious. Then again, the pair had never had this kind of opportunity before.

Sun pressed the scroll closer to his face, as if it would make a difference. "Yeah? Good news or bad?"

"Good. I was able to clear it with the mayor. He says we're all good to run it _tonight_." Az was definitely anxious. His nervous energy could be heard through the scroll and it was beginning to affect Sun.

"Alright!" Sun whooped. "Kind of last minute don't you think? We don't really have time to get organized or recruit any help." Sun's excitement dialed back a bit. He wasn't sure if he could prep for the mission in less than a day. He was good, but he wasn't that good.

"Mayor says tonight is all we got. Most of the civilians will be occupied at the Fall Festival." Az had dialed back to his normal, stern demeanor. "It will keep civilian casualties and interference to the lowest amount possible." Sun could imagine the other man smirking on the other end of the call. "Or that's at least what Mayor says."

Sun placed a hand over his mouth and stuck his tongue to his cheek thoughtfully. He had forgotten about the Fall Festival. That meant he wouldn't be able to call on Blake or Weiss for help. Blake would be too busy protecting Weiss at the festival and the Ice Queen herself would be too busy running the logistics of all the dust in the event to help Sun. Ruby was still out of town, hunting a herd of boarbatusks twenty miles south of the city, last Sun had heard of her. She wouldn't have to time to get back to the city, even if Sun called in a favor.

Sun continued to run through a list of people he could ask for help from mentally. Occasionally he made a noise to remind Az that the call hadn't dropped, but the other man didn't pester him. It wasn't uncommon for Sun to get lost in his own roundabout thoughts.

Yang would be a no. The Fall Festival was sure to be one her busiest times of years and Sun wouldn't want to pull her away from her business when she was most needed. The entirety of the old team JNPR was out on a hunting mission somewhere in Menagerie. They wouldn't be able to make it back in time either. It had been a long time since he had even heard from Penny and even if he did know if she was available, he had no way of contacting her.

Finally, Sun removed his hand from his mouth and spoke back into the scroll. "I don't know Az. We don't have any available reinforcements that I can call in. Tonight might not be a great idea." Sun's voice was laced with annoyance. He wasn't beyond charging in with his guns blazing, but it always helped to have more than one pair of guns with you.

Az's voice came back. "We have never had an opportunity like this before Sun. We can't let this slip by us." His voice was urgent. Pleading. Begging? No. Az would never stoop that low to convince Sun of something. "We have to go for it. Even if the odds are bad."

Sun frowned. This wasn't like Az. Usually, Sun was the one who had to do the convincing. His tail flicked nervously back and forth a few times. Something was up. "Az. Man. If we're patient, an opportunity like this will come up again."

"Will it though?" Az pressed. "We have been working together for a year and a half now. This is the first time we have had a serious opportunity to stop the White Fang. We could get their leader _tonight_. No more of this political, dancing-around-and-trying-to-fix-the-mess-they-leave-for-us bullshit." He was convincing. Sun had spent a long time working together with the police department to clean up the messes the White Fang left. Sun's organization, Libra, was constantly being hindered by the White Fang's interference and terrorist attacks. Moving tonight would certainly put a stop to that as well.

A heavy breath escaped Sun's lips. He was staring at a fruit on the tree in front of him. It was just above his eye level, tempting him to take it. The words of his mentor echoed in his mind:

_"Sun, the low fruit is the easy fruit. You may be able to grab it and bite into it with ease, but you must consider the option of that fruit having already been spoiled by others. Birds will attack the low fruit because it is easiest. Worms will burrow into the low fruit because the birds do not have time to eat them. These things affect the low hanging fruit, along with others that I will not mention. Wise men will climb to the top of the tree to take the fruit from the top. Worms cannot travel that high. Birds eat them before they obtain shelter. Therefore, you remove two of the main problems that could affect your fruit. You guarantee that no birds or worms have spoiled your fruit. While you put in more effort, the reward will be greater. Remember that Sun."_

Another heavy breath. Sun replayed the words in his mind three more times before coming to his decision. "Yeah. Grab as many officers you can. I'll be right over and we can talk strategy." There was a quick farewell said between the two friends and Sun closed his scroll. He stared at the jewel for a minute before shoving the device back into his pocket and turning to the path that would lead him out of the Emerald Forest.

As he walked, negative thoughts plagued him. The lowest fruit wasn't always spoiled though, was it? It wasn't guaranteed. Sometimes, the lowest fruit was just as juicy and delicious as it appeared to be. It had been that way when Sun had accepted his heritage. It had been that way when he and the old team RWBY had taken down Adam Taurus. It had been that way when trying to help Ruby recover from that explosion. The easiest solutions had been the best solutions. Accept his heritage and get over it. Simple. Kill Adam to stop his lunacy. Easier said than done, but still a basic plan. Make Ruby a sling and gauntlet to help her arm recover. Once again, easy and simple for a mind like Wukong's.

But Sun soon began to think of all the times the low hanging fruit had been his demise. The times when it had been spoiled. When he had gotten food poisoning from the apple he had stolen and nearly died. When he had underestimated his opponent in a tournament and been subsequently eliminated. When trying to protect himself, he had gotten someone else killed.

Sun's hand moved unconsciously to the necklace he wore as he thought of that last instance. That wasn't a case of low hanging fruit. Neither choice had been the easy one. Both had been impossible. Sun ducked under a branch and lowered his hand from his neck. That time didn't count.

From the edge of the forest, Sun could see Vytal. He had walked much farther, much faster than he had expected. He stopped to lean against a tree. His tail wrapped around the trunk behind him as he thought. Realistically, it was too late to change his mind. He had already told Az that it was a go. Now it was more about being prepared for the worst. Now it was more about finding out just how rotten that fruit was.

* * *

Sun stepped into the police station and into the hustle and bustle of the bureaucracy. Everyone was running to and fro, probably in preparation for the Fall Festival. Not only did the police have to worry about the general safety of the citizens, given that the festival was located so close to the edge of Forever Fall; but they were also probably being harassed by Blake, making certain they were up to _her _level of security for Weiss's appearance. Sun had been in that position once, when Weiss had appeared in Menagerie for a conference. Blake had recruited Libra for extra security. Working for her was not something that Sun was eager to repeat and he felt a pang of sympathy for the officers.

With a nod to the clerical worker, Sun deposited his gunchaku and his scroll to be held while he was in the station. He motioned towards his necklace and the man behind the counter waved his hand dismissively. Sun gave a thumbs up mouthed a thanks to the man before turning to enter the fray.

It wasn't too difficult of a walk through the police station to reach Az's office. On any normal day, it would have been a piece of cake. However, today Sun had to tuck his tail to his back and perform several pieces of fancy footwork to get by. It didn't matter how well half the station knew Sun; they had places to be and stuff to do. Knocking over Sun was at the bottom of their collective_ things to care about_ list.

However, Sun was able to make it to Az's office without being or knocking anyone over. With a proud smile, Sun turned the knob and entered. To anyone else's eyes, the office looked like a mess of papers and boxes all centered around an oak desk in the center. Sun knew better though. As complicated and messy as the office looked; Az could find a file within seconds of it being mentioned if he had to. It was a unique ability of his that Sun respected.

Already in the office when Sun arrived were three men. Two of them, Sun didn't recognize. They both had on the traditional outfits for detectives, white shirts and suspenders connected to black pants. One wore a pair of sunglasses, despite being indoors and the other's nose was slightly upturned. The one with the sunglasses had a short, military type cut for his brown hair. The one with the upturned nose had wild hair that looked like it hadn't been combed in weeks. Sun hoped that they weren't the only officers that Az had been able to nab.

Az himself was dressed in a suit, standard stuff for a chief-of-police. The darkness of his suit played off nicely with his darker skin. The man was at least a head shorter than both the other men, and those two were shorter than Sun himself by a few inches. Despite his lack of stature though, Sun would never want to mess with him. He had seen what Az could do in a fight a few times. Even though Az hadn't gone to Beacon, he was on par with any huntsmen who graduated from the academy. The man looked up at Sun when he entered, grey eyes meeting green ones.

"Sun." He nodded. His voice was gruff. He motioned towards the other men present with his hand. "These men will be joining us on our expedition tonight. They said they were familiar with you already and they were the only people I could get."

Sun held out his hand to shake but neither took it. Instead, they looked at each other and nodded before the one with the military hair cut spoke. "Yeah, we know you. You were a stowaway and threw a banana at my face a couple years back. Then, you and your faunus friends wrecked half our city when you had a falling out. After that you-"

Sun held up his hands in defeat. Now he knew who they were. They were the two officers who always seemed to find him when he was causing or in the middle of being in trouble. "Whoa. Hey guys. Bygones be bygones right?" He flashed a smile in an attempt to charm his way into a friendship.

The one with the messy hair spoke next, his voice relatively unfriendly. "And ya never wear shirts." His eyes went down to Sun's abs and he made a face of disgust.

Sun looked down at his own chest and shrugged. "I mean with a body like this…"

He was about to continue when Az sighed loudly, cutting him off. "Detective Burns, Detective Heyman, Sun, how about we actually talk about what we are here to talk about?" Az motioned towards the desk. Sun shrugged casually and moved towards the desk, now noticing it held a rough blueprint of the warehouse they would be attacking. The two detectives looked at each other and did the same. Az nodded. "We have to discuss strategy. The plans that Sun and I originally drew up called for ten huntsmen. All we have available are the four of us and whoever Sun can get from Libra. It's looking like we'll only have one huntsmen, three detectives, and a few faunus activists. "

Sun nodded and scratched at his beard. Quickly, Sun went over the blueprint of the building. Three floors. Several ways to enter or leave the building. A helipad. Courtyard that would probably be filled with tankards full of stolen dust. A lot of variables. Sun didn't like it. He bit his tongue before speaking. "If I remember correctly, this warehouse is next to a cliff right?" Az nodded in the affirmative. "Alright!" Sun smiled. "We need to control where they can go. If we push them to the cliff, then they won't have anywhere to go and we can apprehend them without issue."

Detective Burns spoke up. "How are we gonna control the flow of men, when we only have a few men ourselves?" His partner nodded and Az looked expectantly at Sun.

Sun drew his fingers across the three sides of the map that didn't represent the edge with the cliff. "We have to make them think that we are larger than we are. Three people will cover each of these sides. One officer and two of my Libra fighters. We'll take some sirens and I have some dust crystals that you guys can have. You'll cause a few explosions, a few sirens here and there and they won't leave their compound for fear of being caught or worse."

"What will you be doing then?" Az asked.

"I'll enter the compound with a few men and try to push them to the cliff as best I can. Then you can come support us." Sun smirked.

"Our intel says they're ten or twenty guys in that building. A_ few_ men can't handle that many people." Officer Heyman was the one to speak out this time.

Sun turned his eyes on the detective and smiled confidently. "Ha. Well I mean…" Sun rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He took in a deep breath. "I would rather be doing this mission with more personal on board. That's a fact. But, we have to work with what we have."

Az came to Sun's rescue. "This man has handled more and worse men than a few members of the White Fang. He once told me a story of how he fought off ten ursae on his own."

Sun let out a nervous laugh. Az had forgotten to mention that he had his team when he had been fighting those ursae. Az had also forgotten to mention the fact that the people holed up in that warehouse were the personal guard of the leader of the White Fang. Each of guard could probably kill an ursa or two and live to exaggerate about it later. Ten of them would be more than a match for Sun. Twenty of them would be near suicidal. The two detectives didn't look impressed at the bragging Az was doing but didn't say anything more.

Sun nodded. "We'll roll out at seventeen-hundred. Arm yourselves well. If things go south, it will get very hairy." Both detectives nodded and looked to their superior. Az dismissed them with a wave of his hand and they both exited. The door squeaked loudly as it closed. Az sat down heavily in his chair and sighed. He looked at Sun.

"You're not going to be able to fight all those guys are you?"

Sun shook his head. He knew his abilities. He was confident in his abilities. But he knew that ten guys would be pushing it, and twenty would be the death of him.

"What are you going to do about it?"

Sun shrugged and bit the inside of his mouth. "I don't know." His mind was working furiously to figure something out. Anything that would lead to a successful mission. His mind wandered to his mentor's teachings again:

_"Sun, it's on you to engineer a situation that you can win. There is always a way to win, no matter what the odds seem to be. You're a clever monkey; you'll figure it out eventually."_

A smile played at his at the thought of the old man. "I don't know." Sun repeated. He lifted his head up from the blueprints he had been staring at and winked at Az. "But I always figure something out, don't I?"

Az rolled his eyes and dismissed Sun. "Get outta here. Be back for seventeen hundred."

"Yeah." Sun started walking towards the door. "I have to make a few calls anyway."

* * *

_A/N: Thanks for reading. Leave any feedback if you have it. I'll try and update during the week but don't hold me to it cause, life and stuff. Thanks again._


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Had more time than I expected today to write this. Also figured out why I haven't seen very many Wukong fics, because nobody reads them. Wow. Well, too late, I''m already committed. Another mostly build up chapter. Enjoy._

* * *

Wukong heard the door to the police station open and he looked over. Az was there with his two detectives, all in bulletproof vests and armed with assault rifles. Each also had a bag filled with, Sun could only assume, the dust crystals and sirens they were going to utilize. They looked like they were ready to roll. Sun looked down at his own attire and frowned. Sometimes he regretted only having a red and gold cape with baggy blue pants. Then he remembered that he looked way cooler fighting than they did and the regret faded instantly.

Sun stood from the bench he had been leaning on and acknowledged the other men with a head nod. "My guys will meet us there. Keep in mind, they're closer to activists than warriors, so try and go easy on them." Sun winked and smiled at the trio. All three nodded grimly in return and started towards the garage next to the station.

"We'll take three cars there." Az's voice was tense. "Sun. You'll ride with me. We'll split up once we get there. It's just a mile or two north-east of the residential district; right next to that river I can never remember the name of. Got it?" His officers nodded. Sun didn't feel obligated to give a response. Az pursed his lips. "Alright. Let's roll." Officers Heyman and Burns both left the pack to find their own police cars. Az opened the driver's side door to the car he had arrived at. Sun mirrored the action on the passenger side. He noticed a large black _35_ was painted on the side.

Both doors slammed shut. Az tossed his bag into the backseat and soon after the engine roared to life. Az looked over at Sun. "No seatbelt?"

Wukong shrugged and leaned forward a bit so that his tail was a bit more visible. "Makes my tail stiff. I want to be as nimble as possible tonight." Az frowned, but didn't say anything. Instead, he shifted in reverse and pulled out of the parking spot. The car squeaked angrily as the wheels turned. Sun raised his eyebrows. "Sick ride man."

Az rolled his eyes with a sigh, putting the car into drive. "Mayor won't give us more funding. He doesn't want to be the bad guy that raises taxes on the _hardworking_ citizens of Vale." Malice was laced thick throughout Az's voice. "We need the funding. New cars. New guns. Better training. Bigger jail." Angry _tap-tap-taps_ came from his fingers as the drummed on the steering wheel of the car. "We're falling apart Sun. If you hadn't brokered that deal with the Schnee Dust Company for cheaper bullets for us, we'd probably already be bankrupt. I mean, that doesn't mean much, especially when you're funded by the government, but things would go sour. More criminals on the streets. Less officers to deal with them. More people without jobs." Az let out another heavy sigh and fell quite. "It's getting tough Sun."

Sun turned his head so that he was staring out the window. "Well, I know a guy who knows a guy." Sun said casually to the window. He wouldn't let on that he knew the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company directly, that would only lead to countless issues of trying to get free dust or weapons or something. Az was Sun's best friend, but he wasn't worth having to deal with an angry Weiss Schnee over. "Things will get better Az. You just have to have patience." A last ray of the dying sun bounced off of a streetlight and blinded Sun temporarily. He smiled to himself and thought of it as karma for not following his own advice.

"Didn't think I would ever hear that coming from you Sun." Az chuckled to himself. It was a deep and throaty noise. "Maybe you're finally growing up kid."

The blonde turned his eyes to his partner. "Hey! You were the one who was pushing to get this op done. Not me." Sun shrugged his shoulders and brought his hands up accusingly. "If anything, you're just getting more impatient old man."

Another chuckle, followed by silence. Neither of the men felt it necessary to interrupt with meaningless chit-chat. It would be better to prepare oneself mentally for the upcoming mission anyway.

Sun mentally ran over his body. It felt fine, no marks or abrasions or old wounds acting up. All his muscles were in order. The familiar weight of his weapons could be felt hanging from his hip. His gauntlets were tight, but not too tight. His cape was loose but not too lose. Boots followed suit. Wukong should have felt ready. He should have felt like he knew what was going to happen when they arrived. Kick down the door; get the bad guy; leave. Simple. Easy. But for some reason, Sun didn't feel right. It was as if something was nibbling at the edge of his mind. Something was out of place, but what was it?

Sun leaned one arm on his knee and propped his head up on one hand. Fingers came up and cupped his mouth. What was it? The words of his mentor came back as a whisper to him:

_"Sun, the things that you forget are not important. The things that you remember, but cannot figure out their meaning, those are the most important. If something has become so close to you, that you feel when it is wrong, than you must determine what is wrong or pay the price for your negligence. Remember that, boy."_

Sun sighed into his cupped hand. Not much help if he couldn't figure out what was wrong in the first place. All his equipment was fine; he had checked it while he had been waiting. His body was in shape; nothing wrong there. Az looked like he was fine, if a little bit more tense than usual. That made sense though, it was an important mission. What was it? What couldn't he figure the meaning of? Had he seen something out the window? No, there hadn't been anyone or anything on the streets. Fall Festival. Had he heard something? Probably not, it was normal for Az to be disgruntled about whoever wasn't funding him. But wait, something about what Az had said though. His tone? His speech patterns? Was it-

"Sun!" Az punched Wukong in the shoulder. He jumped, his thoughts interrupted. Sun quickly apologized to Az and asked what was wrong. The older man frowned and motioned out the front window. "We're here."

Sun looked around. They were the only police car in the vicinity. "Where are your detectives? I thought they were meeting us here?"

"I told them to report to their assigned areas until given further instruction."

"When?"

"Just did. On the radio."

Sun looked at the radio. Sure enough, it was tuned to the right frequency and it looked to have just given off a signal. His thoughts must have been occupying more of his mind than he had originally considered. He shrugged. Not like Az had any reason to lie to him anyway. Pre-op jitters. "Alright." Sun got out of the car and stretched.

Az got out but did not stretch, instead looking Sun dead in the eye. "Warehouse is half a mile that way." He jabbed his finger towards a fence behind him. Sun eyed it and nodded. "Take this." Az tossed him an earpiece. "It has a microphone. Tell us when you want the distraction and we'll set it off. From there you won't have long before they realize it's a bluff." Sun nodded again. "Alright. Let's get this son-of-a-bitch."

Sun gave a thumbs up and a confident smile. "No problem." As he turned away from his friend though, Sun couldn't help but feel a pit of dread form in his stomach. Something was wrong. Sun climbed the fence and leaped down to the other side. How rotten was this fruit?

* * *

Sun slid up against a tankard and pressed his caped back to it. He peaked around the corner and, seeing no one of worry, signaled for the other members of his party to move up. They all did and mirrored the actions of their leader. He turned to them. They weren't warriors. They all had the gleam of fear in their eyes. All of them were breathing in short bursts instead of their regular patterns. Sun shouldn't have called on them for this. They were protestors, not warriors. He didn't know what he had been thinking. This entire operation was a mistake.

Sun shook his head to expel the doubt. No. He had finish the op. But first, he had to protect these people. "Guys," all of faces turned towards him and the ears twitched in response to Sun's whisper. "No offense, but you'll just slow me down. I want you guys to go provide support for the detectives. Have the detective contact me once you get there." He pointed at a girl with soft brown eyes and rabbit ears. "You head that way and check up on Burns." She nodded and quickly headed in the direction of his finger. "You." He addressed a young man with horns that hid beneath curly hair. "Head that way and check on Heyman." Again a nod and a scurry as they rushed in away. "Check on Az. Go." Same process as the other two faunus who had already vacated the area.

Sun sighed. Now he wouldn't have to worry about being caught because of their actions. More importantly, he wouldn't have to worry about them getting hurt. Sun didn't know why he had even bothered to call them frankly. They had been more than willing to accept his proposal but it was irresponsible for him to ask them. Like so many times before in the day, the words of Sun's mentors haunted him:

_"Sun, it is your responsibility to keep others safe. It is great if they can defend themselves, but you must never put someone in a situation in which they must rely on you for protection. It is irresponsible and the action of a coward. Remember that Sun."_

It would take a few minutes for his activists to get to any of the detectives. There wasn't any particular reason for him to wait, so Sun began to plan his move forward. He was in the one area he didn't want to be: the courtyard. It was almost barren. The only means of cover were three tankards of dust, one of which Sun was currently hid behind that provided little access to the rest of the area. The other two were on opposite sides of the courtyard from each other, and about half the courtyard lay between them. Perfect.

Sun could see the cliff off to his left. The blueprints hadn't accurately conveyed the fact that the building was almost literally floating above the river on one piece of jutting land. Maybe that's why it was abandoned.

Sun counted five members of the White Fang. None of them looked to be the leader though. One was on the roof and the other four were in a circle in the middle of the courtyard. They looked to be playing some sort of card game but Wukong couldn't tell what it was. Not that it mattered; all that mattered was that they were reasonably distracted.

Sun stared at the man on the roof. It was moments like this that made him regret having a close range weapon that transformed into another close range weapon; both forms of which acted as a close range gun. Sure it took more skill to sneak past someone than to shoot them, but it was also more of a nuisance. The man didn't seem to have any set pattern of motion. Instead, the man seemed to roam back and forth across the roof as he pleased, with no particular rhyme or reason to his movements. That would make it difficult to sneak by despite the lack of sunlight.

Sun waited. It wouldn't help him to rush blindly out and get into a fight he wasn't sure he could handle. He thought briefly about calling in his distraction but quickly decided against it. He only had that to use one time, and if he got caught it would be much more useful then than it would be right now. So he continued to wait.

Twenty minutes must have passed before the man on the roof began to move. He turned his back to Sun and began moving to the opposite end of the roof. Wukong took his opportunity and sprinted for the next tankard. Despite his heavy boots and obnoxiously bright apparel, he managed to reach the dust tankard without being detected. The four men playing cards hadn't spotted him. Their backs were turned towards the tankard as well. The only problem now would be to reach the next area of cover. It was in front of the four men. They would see Sun no matter how fast he ran or how dark his clothes could have been.

Sun looked around. He was going to have to distract the men and then run for cover. What could he use though? Sun shifted to the side to see if he could find something to throw. He lifted his back centimeters from the tankard so that it wouldn't make any noise if he moved. He was so focused on that movement though, that he didn't notice the twig under foot.

_Snap!_

Sun looked down in shock. Who leaves a twig in the middle of a warehouse courtyard? Where did that twig even come from? There weren't any trees for miles! It didn't matter though; Sun could hear that the four men had been alerted. There were mumbles and one of the men said, "I'll check it out." The wind began to pick up swirling at the hem of Sun's cape. Bursts of wind reached his ears and they began to whisper to him.

Footsteps. The man couldn't be twenty-five feet away. Seven seconds at best.

Sun wildly looked for any solution. He couldn't move now, the gravel underfoot would give him away. Even if he did manage to escape, the noise of the gravel would most certainly give to larger investigation. Running wasn't an option. The wind picked up even more. Sun had to press his back against the tankard to keep his cape from flapping loudly. The whispers of wind had escalated to conversation volume.

The footsteps were louder now. Maybe fifteen feet away. Four seconds maybe.

Wukong considered jumping. If he jumped on top of the tankard he would be spotted, but he would have the high ground. No, that man on the roof. Sun wasn't sure if he was drunk or not, but it wouldn't matter considering how easy the shot would be to make. No Sun couldn't jump away. The wind was blasting in Sun's ears now. It screamed violently into his ears and tore at his loose clothing.

The footsteps were deafening now. Five feet. One second.

Sun let out a low breath and grabbed the weapon clipped onto his pants. It folded out to its full length and Sun prepared himself. The wind stopped suddenly and the noise disappeared.

The man rounded the corner and was greeted by Sun slamming his staff into the man's throat. There was a slight gurgle of surprise from the man before Sun twisted and slammed his staff into the ground next to the man's feet. Continuing with the motion, Sun swept the men's legs and caught his falling body on the end of his staff. With a grunt of exertion, Wukong threw the man, over his head, and into his friends. The flying man barreled into the others and knocked them all over. None of them had realized what was happening and barely a sound was made from any of them. Sun pressed his advantage and sprinted towards the group.

Moving across the pile of men, Sun was able to successfully knock the heads of each of the four men. All of them fell unconscious after a strike or two from Sun. Wukong let out a heavy breath. That had been too close.

A surprised cry pierced the air. The man on the roof was calling out for the alarm to be raised. Sun cursed himself. How had he been so stupid? How had he forgotten the man on the roof? Voices were coming from the warehouse in response to their comrade. Boots could be heard thrumming down the metal stairs of the warehouse. It sounded like a lot more than twenty guys were coming his way.

"So close Mr. Wukong but not quite good enough I fear." A voice came from behind Sun and he whirled to face it. Standing there was a man who was about the same height as Sun. He was dark skinned, like he spent a lot of time in the sun. The man's clothes were eccentric. He had on, what looked like a purple skirt and a purple collar that covered his shoulders and the lower parts of his neck with gold rings. Other than that he had no clothes. A few golden rings circled his right arm but that was it. No shoes. No shirt. No actual pants.

Sun didn't care about any of that though. Instead, he was focused on the man's head. His eyes were light brown. Sandy brown. His hair was bleached white. Poking above the man's hairline was a pair of horns. The largest horns Sun had ever seen on a faunus. His bull heritage was very apparent. The horns were a good three inches above the man's hairline and they were thick too. Sun wouldn't have doubted the man's ability to gore him with those things if he had the oppertunity to.

The door behind him banged open and Wukong quickly changed his staff to its nunchaku form. In one hand he raised the barrel to Mr. Pharaoh and in the other he raised the barrel towards the twenty or so White Fang members. The golden chain clinked against itself as the spare nunchaku hung uselessly in the wind.

"I'm not sure that will do you much good Mr. Wukong." Pharaoh spoke again. His voice was smooth. Creamy. Laced with charm and beauty. Sun bit the inside of his cheek to stay focused. This man didn't have a silver tongue, he had a platinum tongue. "You see, one or two shots from those guns of yours aren't going to do much good against twenty of my men. Besides, I could just attack you myself while you are busy fighting them off. Quite the predicament."

Sun turned his face towards Pharaoh but kept the others in his peripheral vision. "Yeah well, I'm kinda known for getting outta situations like this. Don't get your hopes up too high buddy." Wukong winked at his enemy. Pharaoh was the leader. That's all that mattered. If he could get to Pharaoh then he didn't have to fight the men to his right. Hostage tactics. And he was supposed to be the hero. Nice.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from the great Wukong." Pharaoh licked his lips in anticipation.

"Well then you better sit back and enjoy the show." Sun was going to teach this sarcastic prick whose boss. "Az! Bring in the reinforcements!"

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_A/N: Bleh, cliffhangers. Didn't want to end it this way but I would have ended up with a eight or ten thousand word chapter otherwise. Don't want that happening. Thanks for reading and stick around. Things will pick up a bit in the next chapter. I'm also being a bit heavy handed with some foreshadowing at this point so see if you can spot it. Thanks again!_


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Some action in this chapter. Found out it was very difficult to write with Sun's weapons. Lot's of confusing motions. Tough to describe properly. Tried my best. Enjoy._

* * *

The night air remained deathly still and quite. Leaves whispered on their trees, speaking of how their land was being disturbed by the intruders. The grass responded by wistfully wishing they would leave. The noise of the silence deafened Sun. Where was Az's distraction? What was he doing? Was he getting into better position?

"Az. Come on. Don't make me look like an asshole here, man." Sun breathed out. There was no response from his communicator. Wukong's pulse began to pound loudly in his ears. This was _not_ good. Wind bit at his chest and his gunchaku swung more violently from their golden chains.

Pharaoh threw his head back and let out a laugh. It sounded like a perfect balance of harmony and discord. Wukong could only think of it as the laugh of someone who was balancing between being a genius and being a lunatic. It was unearthly. It rang throughout the courtyard clearly; unobstructed because of the lack of equipment lying around. Sun shivered as the sound passed over his body. Even the other members of the White Fang shifted uncomfortably as the unearthly laugh slid over their skin and ears like oil.

Pharaoh brought his head down and stared at Sun. "I hope you don't mean these reinforcements?" He waved his hand and several members of the White Fang from the back of the crowd brought up six bodies. Twenty-four pairs of ears. Wukong's activists that were supposed to be with the detectives _thumped_ loudly onto the dirt. Sun didn't look away. He couldn't. That would jeopardize his safety in his already shitty situation.

Sun had to think fast. Six bodies. That meant all three of the police officers had survived. It also meant that each of the three activists who Wukong had sent to support them had survived as well. Fifty percent mortality rate so far for the mission. Fantastic.

"I must say Mr. Wukong, asking your activists to walk with you into Hell is very irresponsible. Weren't you taught better?" Pharaoh's voice was condescending. He was mocking Wukong for his actions. Frankly, Sun couldn't blame him.

"I was never the best student Mr…?" Wukong probed. If he could get this guy talking, Sun could only hope that he would be able to figure out an exit strategy.

"Dalfid Daja Albīeria." The man motioned with his hand and bowed slightly.

"That's quite the mouthful. How about I call you Pharaoh instead?" Sun smiled at him and winked. Pharaoh began to pace back and forth. Sun kept his gun trained on him. It was difficult to split one's focus between aiming two guns, but not impossible. Even though he had two shotguns, aiming was still important. Had to get at least in the general direction of your enemy to be effective. Or at least, that's how Sun had always done it.

"I suppose so. You won't be alive much longer anyway so it is unimportant." He began to tap his fingers against the side of his leg. "You will die here Mr. Wukong."

Sun had to act fast. This guy seemed like he had places to be. Plans to fulfill. Sun had to hold him off as long as he could. "If I had a nickel for every time I heard that, I would still be stealing food, but I would at least have a few nickels." Pharaoh gave him a funny look but continued to pace without response. "Classic criminal thing to say man. Maybe you should think up your own banter." Sun smirked at the man and tilted his head a bit in sympathy. "Guess not everyone can be as smooth as I am though."

Pharaoh smiled. His teeth were blindingly white. They matched his hair almost perfectly. "I suppose not."

He wasn't a talker. Not good. But Sun was quickly formulating his escape. The cliff was clearly his only viable option for escape. The courtyard had no cover and provided no places to hide, even if he did manage to escape. The surrounding area provided much the same issue. While there were more than a few spare containers lying around, Sun didn't like the idea of playing a night long game of hide and seek with this guy and his goons. It would also be next to impossible for Sun to silently move about the tankards with the current wind situation. The warehouse itself was a no-go. While Sun would be able to funnel the enemies in the warehouse, getting to it in the first place would be impossible. Also, the warehouse was enemy territory; they knew it much better than Sun did.

Clearly the only option was to get to the cliff and climb down. Sun wasn't worried about the climbing down part. He could do that in his sleep. No, getting there would be the hard part. Sun had to engineer a situation in which his back would be to the cliff and there would be minimal interference with his climb down. That was going to be the hard part.

However, while he was occupied in his thoughts a member of the White Fang had snuck closer to him. The man sprinted at Sun. Reacting quickly, Wukong dropped his aim on Pharaoh and spun around the blade of other man. Sun slammed his gunchaku onto the man's wrist before continuing his spin and wrapping the golden chain around the man's neck. Before his sword had clattered to the ground, Sun had placed the business end of his other weapon against the man's temple. Hostage tactics. Yep, Sun was most definitely the classy, standup hero in this situation.

"Don't move or I'll shoot!" Sun shouted. It wasn't the most glamorous plan, but hey, it was something.

Another haunting laugh came from Pharaoh. "Go ahead. He is replaceable. They all are." Pharaoh's hands slid slightly between the slits in his skirt and he pulled out two metal objects. From the distance of about twenty feet, Sun couldn't tell what they were, but they didn't seem to be larger than a butcher knife. Most likely throwing knives.

Sun turned his hostage to his friends. "You hear that? He's willing to kill you all." No response came from his audience. All the members of the White Fang remained passive and didn't say anything.

That laugh came again. "And they are all willing to die for me." Sun turned so that he and his hostage were facing Pharaoh again.

"What did you do to them?"

"I told them what they needed to hear. I can be very charismatic." White teeth flashed at him.

Sun narrowed his eyes. Something wasn't right. Nobody was that convincing. Not even Roman Torchwick had been able to convince his soldiers to stick by his side once the truth had been revealed, and he had been the slickest snake Sun had ever met. Pharaoh raised his hand towards the pair as if he was reaching out to them; palm open fingers inviting. He looked menacing but Sun couldn't quite figure out what the gesture me-

The noise of a gunshot filled the air. Suddenly, Sun felt his hostage's head whip back. Pharaoh had shot his own man. Those were not throwing knives. This guy was dangerous.

Time slowed down. Sun could hear the twenty or so members of the White Fang behind him begin to move. Wukong could see that Pharaoh hadn't begun to move, but had to assume that he wouldn't be far behind his companions. An unfair fight was the best type of fight after all.

Sun's mind raced as he withdrew his gunchaku from around the dead man's neck. He needed a new plan. Fighting wouldn't be an option unless he could even the odds somehow. But there wasn't anything available that could do that for him. The only things present in the courtyard were the three tankards of dust and Sun's new friends.

Wait. Dust. Energy. Explosion. Even the odds. Pharaoh was standing right in front one and his friends were running right next to one. Perfect. Now all Sun could do was hope that it was one of the more unstable forms of dust.

Wukong was moving in slow motion. He spun and swung his left leg out as far as he could, dropping into a low bo stance. He raised both of his gunchaku to the dust tankard twenty feet away; next to the White Fang thugs. They were still slowly moving towards Sun, within the potential blast radius. Wukong pulled the triggers of his gunchaku. They roared in his hands and almost instantly the tankard erupted into a brilliant, red light. Burn dust. Sun had destabilized a crystal or two with his shots and that had caused a chain reaction. The ideal situation.

The sound of the explosion hit Sun first. It's hard to describe what an explosion is like. The noise of the explosion is like a physical force in itself. It doesn't wash over the ears like a casual gunshot or car crash. No, it assaults the ears like madman assaulting another human. Then it hits the rest of the body. Bones shake. Skin is violently pushed away from the body. Hair is blow back. To Sun, it felt like someone had punched every inch of his body.

Then comes the heat. God, it was so hot. So _unbelievably_ hot. It assaulted every sense that Sun had. He closed his eyes for fear that the might dry and scar. He closed his mouth for fear of burning the insides of his lungs by breathing the super-heated air. Sun felt the exposed part of his body beginning to burn the longer the heat lasted. It was overwhelming. It was everything for the space of about a second and a half.

And then it was gone. Almost instantly, the heat and the noise stopped assaulting his senses. Sun opened his eyes and dragged his foot across the ground so that he was facing Pharaoh. His enemy had begun to move; moving through the small smoke cloud that his gun had created, towards Sun. Wukong flipped the chain of his weapon over his wrists and grabbed the unused gunchaku. Again they roared and the other tankard, the one right behind Pharaoh, erupted into brilliant red light.

Again the sound came. Again the heat washed over him. Again it vanished almost inexplicably.

Sun opened his eyes. He had been knocked onto his back by the explosion this time. He rolled, bringing his legs over his head and placing them onto the ground. Using his tail as leverage, Sun completed a backflip and looked at his handiwork. Behind him, there weren't any bodyguards standing. All of them were strewn across the courtyard, either barely breathing or not moving at all. Sun moved to look towards Pharaoh, wondering how the other man had fared in the ex-

On instinct, Wukong twisted his body to the right and lashed out with his arm. There, centimeters from where his heart had just been, the blade of Pharaoh's sai hung. Wukong looked at his opponent. Pharaoh looked almost totally unfazed by the explosion. It was as if he just had decided that it wasn't important and instead, killing Sun was the only thing that mattered.

Wukong pushed the arm away and handsprung away from the other. Two sai. One for either arm. Hilts can be used as guns. Unknown if there are other characteristics. Sun quickly analyzed his opponent. He was focused. Driven. Brushed off the explosion like it was nothing. Adept shot. Had killed the hostage from twenty feet away with one shot from what could only be a pistol-like bullet with no sights on his weapon. Dangerous. Sun didn't have a good way of fighting Pharaoh's sai. His staff would leave him open to one sai while he was blocking the other. His gunachku weren't defensive weapons and were difficult to use as a means of deflecting or blocking. Not good.

Sun decided to stick with his gunchaku though when his enemy rushed him again. Instead of dealing with him by blocking, Sun moved and dodged, waiting for an opportunity to present itself. Weaving and spinning was a specialty of his, but Sun quickly realized that such tactics would never work against Pharaoh. No, his opponent was too focused. He wasn't distracted by Sun's brilliant cape or twisting motions. Instead, he would just stab, forcing an end to whatever motion Wukong had been trying to complete. Sun couldn't fight the way he wanted to. Pharaoh was forcing him into a confrontation with minimal dancing and minimal dodging. Tit for tat. Punch for punch. Eye for eye.

Sun felt time slow down again. He had to consider his options. Pharaoh wasn't moving. He was a stationary fighter. That meant that Sun was controlling the direction of the battle. Which was good. Controlling the movement of the battle meant that he could use the environment to the best of his ability. If he could push Pharaoh to the cliff, he might be able to force a situation of surrender.

Sun jerked his head to the right as a sai came up to stab him. Pharaoh was a close range fighter. He had to invade Sun's space to get close enough to stab the monkey man. That was both good and bad. It was good because it meant that space would be a problem for the other man. It was bad because by being so close, Sun couldn't properly utilize his gunchaku. Sun had to create some space and maintain that space.

Sun bent over backwards and went into a handstand to dodge a jab from Pharaoh. Thinking that the motion was going to continue, Pharaoh stepped forward to press his attack. However, Sun pressed his tail onto the ground behind his arms and pushed himself forward, towards Pharaoh. The man stumbled to the left as Wukong fell forward and into a roll. Almost instantly, Sun sprang up from his roll and unfurled his gunchaku from his fists. In under a second, all four shotguns had been reloaded and Sun was spinning them dangerously in front of his body.

Pharaoh eyed him. "Impressive move Mr. Wukong." He jabbed experimentally only to have his wrist slapped by one of the spinning shotguns. "I was anxious to see how you would react to being cornered. It seems the cornered beast _is_ more dangerous than a free one."

Sun smirked through the red blurs of his weapon. "Underestimation. Classic mistake." Sun caught one of his gunchaku in his armpit and switched his grip on the other. He fired off a shot. Pharaoh shifted and dodged the shotgun's spray before trying to move in for an attack. However, it was fruitless; Sun had returned to his strategy of keeping Pharaoh at bay with the red blurs of his gunchaku. There was a loud click and a shotgun casing fell to the ground.

"As genius as this strategy is, I must put an end to it." Pharaoh leapt forward. Almost instantly a large gust of wind came and blew against the red blur in front of Wukong. The gust changed the trajectory of his weapons, threatening to harm their owner, and forced Sun to gather his gunchaku in his fists.

Pharaoh had closed the distance. Sun gave up on his normally eccentric style of fighting and decided to take a more traditional stance. He used the dual gunchaku in either fist to act as deflectors, and while he still kept up his footwork to keep them moving towards the cliff, was utterly helpless on the offensive front.

The pair fought. To any outsider it would appear that the two were just blurs of color; one red and the other purple. Occasionally the glint of steel caught a beam of moonlight, or a golden ray flashed from Sun's weapons, but nothing else could be seen from the two. The clash of metal on metal was heard, that much was certain, but by the time the sound had come out, another was already in the making. They were obviously both masters of their respective methods, and neither was going to back down.

Despite the amount of concentration it took to fight his opponent though, Sun slowly moved the pair to the cliff. It took a while. A long while. Sun wasn't sure how long it took, but he knew that by the time they had come within ten feet of the cliff edge, he was sweating and breathing hard. Pharaoh didn't look much better. He was pale and there was a distinct sheen to his skin, though he wasn't breathing heavily. Now all Wukong had to do was wait.

His opportunity came soon. An unfocused jab. Sun reacted quickly. He brought the chain of his gunchaku up so the point of the sai went through one of the rings. Wukong stepped with the motion and brought his arm holding the captured sai over Pharaoh's head. Sun circled his enemy and pulled down on his gunchaku so that Pharaoh's own sai was pressed against the man's neck. Sun quickly placed his other gunchaku against his opponent's side and placed his finger on the trigger. He had won.

Sun let out a breathless sigh. "Whoa. Good fight man." Sun smiled though his captive couldn't see it. "Almost thought you had me a few times."

Pharaoh laughed. The sick sound filled the air. A blast of wind came from the direction of the warehouse and washed over both of them, ruffling their hair. "Then you are dumber than you look."

"Hey, what are yo-" A sharp pain shot up Sun's side and he cried out. He looked down and saw his enemies weapon almost hilt deep in his flesh. There was a click and a release of gas, and the blade of the sai disappeared, detached from the hilt. Wukong felt his captive's muscles bunch but was frozen and couldn't move. He felt Pharaoh's neck and body twist out of the embrace but didn't react. Sun felt the pain of another jab and blade being left in his flesh but remained still.

He was frozen. Paralyzed. The wind was screaming in his ears to move. Wait, no. No it wasn't. It was screaming _not _to move. It was telling him to stand and accept his death. It was telling him that it was all over. It was telling him that the grave would be warm.

"You have fallen Wukong." Pharaoh's voice filled his ear. Creamy. Wispy. "With you out of the way, Vytal will fall in no time. Your precious Libra will disband. The White Fang will re-grow the canines that you so mercilessly ripped out all those years ago. And I will be known worldwide. Feared. Respected." Sun shivered. "I will be the one who killed Sun Wukong: ambassador of the faunus and mediator of the humans."

Sun's eyes widened. He had to escape. He was injured now and Pharaoh was a lot more dangerous than previously expected. But how? The cliffs? If he jumped-

_"Sun, the foolish man acts on impulse alone. The wise man thinks on the impulse, and then acts. Do what you must, but do not be foolish about it."_

Sun didn't have time to think. He had time to act. With a cry of effort Sun broke free of his captor's words, clipped his weapons to his hip, and leapt over the edge of the cliff.

* * *

_A/N: Hey, its a cliffhanger. Bonus points if you can figure out what the name of my villain means. Hope you enjoyed. I'll update soonish. Thanks for reading._


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Long chapter this update. It was tough to write this chapter. Got slammed with work this week. Also tried to create a high stress scene. Not sure how that paid off. Also, because of what I wrote for this chapter, I had to bump the rating up to M. It gets a bit graphic. I won't warn you, but you should see it coming. Jump to after the line if that makes you too uncomfortable. Enjoy._

* * *

Sun had seriously underestimated the height of the cliff he had jumped off of.

He had thought that the cliff was maybe ten or twenty feet above the water. A reasonable height for the cliff of a small river. Nothing more than a comfortable climb or uncomfortable jump down.

That was not the case.

Immediately after jumping over the edge, Sun knew he was in trouble. It was a long way down. A _long_ way down. Sun couldn't be positive but from the brief quarter second that he could see the full stretch of his fall, but he could only guess that it was about a hundred and fifty feet worth of open air before the water. Sun also had time to notice the fact that he had jumped out over a still part of the river, the unnatural blackness being the only indication that there as anything at all beneath him. And then, he began to fall.

Sun had never had a problem with heights. In fact, for most of his life, Sun had been climbing buildings and trees and anything he could to escape the dirty streets of the city. Climbing gave him a sense of accomplishment. It was his way of challenging Nature. Challenging the all-powerful force of gravity, and _winning_. The higher he could climb, the better, the _greater_ the accomplishment.

Falling.

Falling was different.

Falling meant that gravity had won. Falling meant that Sun's conquest towards the stars had failed. Falling meant that Sun had lost. It came with wind that filled the ears and deafened him. It came with breathlessness as air rushed, uninvited into his lungs. Falling came with pain.

Sun felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and hissed through his teeth. A split second later he heard the sound of a gunshot over the wind that was assaulting his ears. Pharaoh wasn't ready to give up his prey just yet. Sun couldn't see his new friend, but could almost feel the glare burning into his back as he began to fall.

Sun didn't have much time before he hit the water. Four, maybe five seconds max. He had to get oriented and fast. If he didn't hit the water right, well, Pharaoh wouldn't be the one claiming the prize for Sun's death.

As quickly as he could, Sun rotated his tail and tried to shit his weight so that the air would push him into an upright position. Almost immediately, Sun felt a problem. His cape was in the way. It was restricting the flow of air behind him. The damn thing was in the way of where he needed to go. Not to mention the fact that it was choking him, but Sun decided to attribute that to the forced air instead. He couldn't blame his cape for everything. He loved it too much.

However, Sun could also feel his body beginning to fail him. He couldn't flex his abdomen like he wanted to because of the blade embedded in it. Wukong wasn't sure if the blade had punctured a muscle or nerve or something but his movements were slow and jerky. Or rather, slower than he needed and too jerky to be precise. Not to mention the fact that his shoulder was failing to respond properly now because of the bullet housed inside. Nor the fact that his other shoulder was sluggish as well because of the _other_ blade in that one.

If probability had anything to do with Sun's life, he figured that he would die hitting the water.

But he could never be so lucky. _Something _seemed to be on Sun's side. Three quarters of the way through his free-fall he managed to twist into a semi-decent pencil. With under a fraction of a second left until he struck the water, Sun could only think of his mentor's words:

_"Sun, pain is mental. It takes a true man to be able to-"_

Sun's thoughts exploded with expletives as he hit the water. Instantly he felt his right ankle shatter. It wasn't a surprise considering his form when his feet hit the water, but that didn't change the fact that it hurt like a bitch. The pain almost instantly stopped though. It didn't continue to throb or pulse like a normal wound should have. Sun's adrenaline was taking care of the ankle. Right now he had to escape. Nothing else mattered. Only surviving.

While the hormone removed the pain, it did nothing for the cold. Sun's body was completely enveloped by the icy waters of the autumn river instantly. It took all of his willpower not to, but Sun didn't gasp. He couldn't gasp. Because then he would drown. And Sun Wukong didn't spend an hour fighting some dude only to drown in a river while making his heroic retreat.

Sun didn't immediately start kicking and swimming to break the surface of the river again. Instead he waited. It may have been for two seconds, or it may have been for three years. Sun couldn't tell, his senses were completely fried. He didn't know if he was facing up anymore; or if he had his eyes closed because the water _couldn't _be that dark; or even if he was still alive really. It wouldn't be too far of a stretch to assume that he had died. It would certainly be the easier option to just go with. If he was dead he wouldn't have to worry about his lungs burning so badly. If he was dead then he wouldn't have to push off the ground his left foot had just touched.

But he was worried. But he did push. Sun was still alive. And if he was still alive, than he wasn't going to let a thing like death get in the way of his escape.

Sun pushed off with his left foot and felt the water push against his body. Somehow, Wukong managed to start flailing his arms to push more water downwards. He felt more water push against his body. Sun opened his eyes. While the water was dark and the sediments stung his eyes, the surface was so close.

Only fifteen feet away. Sun tried to use his legs to kick upwards, despite the growing pain in his right ankle. The coldness of the water was helping to dull the pain, almost as much as the adrenaline had been only a few centuries ago. But now the adrenaline was fading. Sun's body was starting to hurt. The water cooling the metal that had been lodged inside of him and taking even more heat from his body.

Ten feet. Sun's body was beginning to numb. The water had to be close to freezing temperature. The seeping cold was beginning to affect Sun's mind. His vision was beginning to blur and his thoughts were starting to slow from their frantic pace. Muscles were slowing down even further from their already poor state. It was a miracle that any sort of progress was being made by the monkey faunus.

Five feet. Fire had come to occupy the space where Sun's lungs used to be. The burning sensation that they brought contrasted sharply with the dull blanket that the frigid water had put over the rest of his body. Instead of a fog around Sun's mind, a honey was covering it. Everything was slow. The only things crying out for action were his lungs. His burning lungs. Burning lungs. Burning…

As if a spell had been broken, Sun gasped for air as his head broke the surface. The sweet gas rushed down his throat and re-filed his lungs to capacity. With the spell being broken, Sun started thrashing any way he could to stay above the water line. It was difficult. While he could breathe now, his muscles were still slow and sluggish. It was a struggle, but after ten seconds or so of panic, Sun managed to find a rhythm that allowed his head to stay above the water for the majority of the time. Somehow, he had managed to survive the fall and not drown.

Right next to Sun's head the water exploded up and outwards. Another gunshot was heard echoing down the cliff. Pharaoh still hadn't given up. While he only had pistol-like weapons, it was only a matter of time before he landed a hit on Wukong; either through luck or skill. Sun had to move or he was going to die at the bottom of the cliff instead of at the top.

The current of the river wasn't strong but, Sun to feel it leisurely pushing him along. The monkey faunus pushed his body as far into an angle as he could and tried to move his arms. Neither arm was moving well, and it burned furiously to do, but he managed to start propelling himself through the water. Sun tried to start kicking with his legs to gain extra speed, but soon stopped that. His ankle was gone at this point and almost any movement would send stabbing pain up his leg and threaten to cause Sun to pass out.

It was a slow process. _Very _slow. Bullets continued to harass Sun until he got out of Pharaoh's range. Thirty seconds of terror. Thirty seconds of not knowing if he was going to die without being totally aware of it. It was horrible. But Sun made it.

Deciding to reward himself with a small peek, Sun turned and looked at the cliff behind him. It was probably two hundred feet behind him at this point. Pharaoh didn't seem to be on the cliff anymore. In fact, nothing seemed to be on the cliff anymore. The cliff was on fire. A red glow was filling the night sky with its lustful tones. Now that Sun had time to think, he could distinctly smell the burning woods and could almost hear the crackling of the woods over the soothing whispers of the water.

Sun sighed. He hadn't meant to set the forest on fire. Now he was going to have to deal with Az harassing him about that and the mayor and-

_Az_.

What had happened to him? Where had he gone? Was he okay? Thinking of his friend, Sun felt a surge of energy rush through his body. He spotted a bank low enough to drag himself onto and started making his way towards it. Could Az be dead? Had he showed up after Sun had already jumped? What if he had gone to get reinforcements, but Sun had scared off the perp? The thoughts troubled Wukong as he dragged himself onto the bank.

Sun flipped over onto his back and took survey of his body. He had two stab wounds. Neither seemed to be bleeding profusely, but they certainly weren't helping his current state of blood loss. A bullet wound. That one was probably bleeding the most. The bullet hadn't gone completely through, which was good because Sun probably would have already died from blood loss if it had. A broken ankle. Sun's fingers traveled down to the ankle in question and prodded it. Sharp pain went up his leg. Definitely broken. Sun was just grateful that his entire leg hadn't snapped. It had been a long fall.

All-in-all, it wasn't too bad. He was beat up and would have a few new scars, but nothing that Sun hadn't experienced before. The only thing that wouldn't heal itself was his pride, and that only needed some vengeance to fix. Then he would be right-as-rain all over again.

But before he could start that endeavor, he had to patch himself up. While he _hadn't _died during his escape, he was _going to _die if nothing was done stop his bleeding and get him moving. Sun stuck one of his hands into his pants pocket and rummaged around, hoping that he hadn't lost any supplies during his struggle.

He had. When his hand came back out, all that the fist covered were some bandages and tape. His stitching and surgery equipment must have fallen out when he was in the water. With only bandages, it wouldn't matter how many he put on, the blood leaving his body would still kill him. Sun had to stop the bleeding somehow. That was the only way. But how?

Sun moved his head left and right, searching for anything that he could use. While it might be crude to use a stick or rock to stitch oneself, it wasn't unheard of. Granted, it also took a very particular type of stick or rock and then a lot of prayers that the wound didn't get infected, but some hope was better than none. However, the search yielded no results. Any stick that Sun could see was far too thick, and the bank had almost no rocks on it, the only ones being large boulders that Sun would barely have been able to lift.

Stitching was out. But he had to stop bleeding. The only other way that Sun knew how to stop bleeding was to cauterize an area. But Sun didn't have the materials to make a fire or anything metal to use for the deed.

Sun sighed and tried to shift his weight. He was really wishing that he hadn't gotten a D in Battlefield Medicine right now. What could he do? Bleeding out was very quickly becoming priority number one in Sun's mind. He wouldn't admit it, but the dirt around him seemed to be gaining a distinct, red hue.

Something jabbed sharply into Sun's thigh as he tried to shift again. His weapon had gotten caught underneath him and was sticking into his thigh. Sun grabbed at the weapon and moved it out of the way. As his hand released, his fingers brushed the trigger mechanism.

Trigger.

Gun.

_Heat_.

Sun grabbed the weapon and sat up quickly. He looked intently at it. Barrels got hot. Really hot. Hot enough to burn things. Like skin. Sun pressed the barrel to the wounds on his body. While it wasn't a perfect match, Sun could certainly force the tip of the barrel in. Sun bit his lip. If he went with this method, he wasn't going to be able to pull out the bullet that was now calling his body home. He didn't have the tools and his fingers were too thick to do the deed.

And if he didn't go with the cauterization method, then he was going to die.

Sun grit his teeth and grabbed the shotgun with both hands. One hand took residence over the trigger and the other took residence over the lever to reload. Sun pulled the trigger. The bullets sprayed out and disrupted the calm water in front of him. He dropped the lever and another casing into the chamber. Again he pulled the trigger. Again the bullets and the lever and the casing.

Sun repeated this process until the gun clicked loudly that it was empty and there was a steady ringing in his ears. By now, the tip of his gun's barrel was glowing red-hot and was angrily releasing smoke. Without thinking about it, Sun pressed the tip to his bullet wound.

Pain exploded from his shoulder. So much pain that Sun swore violently and almost dropped his weapon. But he didn't. Instead, he pressed. He pressed hard so that the barrel slid into the wound and the hot edges burned the broken veins closed. He pushed the barrel in as far as it would go. The pain threatened to overwhelm him at this point. But he kept pushing. Sun pressed until the barrel met with the bullet that was lodged in his shoulder. He wanted to throw up. He wanted to pass out. He wanted to rip the gun out and die on that bank instead.

But he didn't. Sun waited until the pain had fallen from unbearable to only excruciating before removing the barrel of his weapon. He let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding and pressed his fingers to where the bullet wound. His fingers were met with a hole. Sliding a single finger in, Sun discovered that he wasn't bleeding anymore and that his crude cauterization had worked.

Quickly, Sun grabbed the bandages and wrapped them around his shoulder sparingly. He didn't have a lot and while he wanted to be safe in case the wound opened up, it wouldn't be worth it. The blade wounds would need more bandages.

Sun flipped his grip so that he was holding another gunchaku. He eyed the other wounds on his body. He didn't want to pull the blades out. It would be better if they were left it. All Sun had to do was close the opening to the wound, to try and prevent any more blood from coming out of his body.

Sun swallowed and eyed his weapon. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead and past the gentle curve of his eyes. He was breathing heavy. His arms were weak, heavy. They didn't want to any more than their master did. But dying wasn't an option. Not now. Not anytime. Not for Sun Wukong.

He repeated the process. The bullets. The clicking. The ringing. The heat. The pain. This time though, over the sound of his own cursing, Sun could hear the sizzling of skin as the barrel went in. Sun tried to close off his ears and ignore the sound but to no avail. The sizzling, the _popping_ of flesh as it was forcibly closed raped Sun's ear drums. It was almost as painful to hear that_ disgusting _soundas the actual process was.

But then it was gone. The pain stayed but the sound was gone. This time, Sun heaved violently. He hadn't eaten anything, but the dry heaves were violent and lasted for a minute before stopping.

Sun's entire body was shaking. This time, he didn't even test to make sure that the wound had been properly cauterized before applying the bandages. Sun dropped the empty gunchaku next to his right leg and grabbed his other pair.

One more. That's all that he needed. One more. Then it would be over. Sun took a deep breath and started the process over.

It may have been his imagination, but it was over more quickly this time. The pain was less. The sounds were muted. Everything was less. It must have been his imagination but upon completing the final cauterization Sun let out a heavy breath and dropped his weapon.

His breaths were shaky but he had done it. He wasn't going to die from blood loss. At least, he _probably_ wasn't going to die from blood loss. Now all he had to do was build a splint for his ankle and he would be able to walk and find help.

Sun looked at his supplies. He had maybe three feet of bandages left, some surgical tape, a stick, and three empty gunchaku. Almost immediately Sun began to work. He aligned the empty pair of gunchaku with the left side of his leg and ankle and taped them down with a liberal amount of the stuff. On the other side, Sun took the stick and mirrored his actions. He wrapped the last of the bandages as well as he could around his crude apparatus and taped them so that they wouldn't come undone.

Looking down at his handiwork, Sun could only laugh. He had lit the forest on fire, jumped off a hundred foot cliff, broken his ankle, almost drowned, burned his wounds close with a gun, and was now looking at what could only be called a splint if a blind man had labeled it. His ankle was still able to move a bit, but was relatively safe in its cocoon.

It was the most ridiculous thing Sun had ever seen.

But it worked. And that was all that mattered. After clipping his remaining gunchaku to his pants, Sun used his tail to help him get up without putting too much weight on the injured foot. It was mostly successful and Sun only stumbled because of the pain once. Wishing he had his full staff to lean on, Sun started away from the bank, and hopefully towards help.

* * *

After about thirty minutes of walking, Sun came to a dirt road. And standing on that dirt road was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen.

Az was standing there with his police cruiser. The short man caught sight of Sun and quickly rushed over to help his friend. "Sun! Man you look like shit." Az allowed Sun to rest most of his body weight onto his shoulder.

"Well, I'm the other guy so I guess that makes sense." Sun smiled and tried to laugh at his own joke but failed to. Although he wasn't sure how, he ended up in the front seat of the police cruiser. And then Az was next to him. Then the car was moving. Weird.

Az took his eyes off of the dirt road for a second to look worriedly at Sun. "We need to get you to hospital." He turned onto a main road and put his sirens on. Sun couldn't recognize where they were in the city, but he trusted Az's judgment. "What happened up there?"

Sun coughed. "Got into a fight. Called for you guys. You never came. Had to escape" Sun turned his head towards Az. "What happened to you guys? I thought you were supposed to be my backup?"

Az grimaced and took a turn way too sharply. The ties squealed loudly and in protest of the action but held on. "We were ambushed. I got away but your buddies didn't. I don't know if my detectives made it out either."

Sun nodded. "I think they made it. They brought some bodies out before we fought and I didn't see either Burns or Heyman there." Sun moved to scratch his beard but hissed loudly as pain exploded from his shoulder. Instead, Sun dropped his hand and motioned towards the radio. "Why don't you just call them on this thing?"

Az snorted. "That radio hasn't worked for the past five years Sun."

"What?"

"The radio doesn't work."

Sun looked out the window. Az had turned off of the main roads and they were in a shadier part of town now. The buildings were intimidating and streetlights weren't all functioning well. Nowhere near the hospital. Sun lowered his voice. "When we originally showed up, I thought you told your detectives to head to their stations early on the radio."

Az snorted again. "Must have meant the walkie then. Simple mistake." Az looked over at his friend again and noticed him staring out the window with apprehension. "This is a shortcut I learned about a few years back. We just have to go a few more blocks west then one south and We'll be there."

Sun turned and gripped the weapon clipped to his pants. "I thought the hospital was on the east side of town."

Az shook his head. "That's the other hospital. Vytal Sign Hospital is just down this way." But his voice had broken. There had been a crack and Sun had heard it. Az pretended to cough. "Maybe I should get checked out too. I think I might have caught that throat bug. Been coughing up a storm all day."

Sun hadn't taken his eyes off of his friend. "No you haven't."

Az grimaced but didn't respond.

Pregnant silence filled the cabin until Sun spoke again. "Why?"

If they hadn't just passed a streetlight, Sun wouldn't have seen the wet glisten on Az's cheek. "He had my kids Sun." Az dropped his right hand from the wheel and tried to pull his gun on Wukong.

But Sun was faster. He had anticipated the movement and had started to block even before Az had even moved. The gun flew out of Az's hand and into the backseat. Sun drew his own weapon and fired a round off from the one loaded gunachaku into Az's dashboard. The engine screamed loudly and Sun fired another shot. Black smoke started to pour out of the hood in front of them.

Az reached over and tried to grab the gunchaku from Sun, taking his eyes from the road to focus on his prey. Sun fought back. While Sun didn't have his full strength, Az could only use one hand. The two were evenly matched.

The pair tugged on the weapon for a second or two before the wheel was tugged sharply to the right. The car responded and jerked to the right. Both occupants of the car looked up only an instant before they hit the light post.

Az's airbag exploded out and slammed into his face. Sun's tried to, but being riddled with bullet holes couldn't quite manage the escape. However, all that meant was that Sun's face hit the dashboard instead. His vision blurred and he tried to open his door. His hand slipped and couldn't quite grab the handle of the door. Az wasn't bothering him anymore. Sun chanced a look over at his betrayer and noticed the man's eyes were closed. Knocked out.

Finally Sun managed to wrap his hands around the handle and push the door open. He flopped onto the sidewalk ungracefully and quickly tried to stand up. Pain shot up his leg as he momentarily forgot about his broken ankle. Slowly, Sun tried to stand, using the door frame of the car to drag himself up. When he reached full height, his vision swam and he lurched forward. Sun only managed to steady himself just barely.

With short steps and unsteady movements, Sun slowly began his escape from the crash scene.

* * *

_A/N: Not going to lie, I was uncomfortable writing the cauterization scene. Anyways, I'll try to pre-write something so I can update during the week. Things will slow down a bit in the next chapter or few chapters so they shouldn't be as difficult or take as long to write. Leave a review or follow if you like. Thanks for reading._


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: Welp, I'm a liar. Thought I was going to pre-write something and wrote Sisters instead. Whoops. Well this chapter is the start of the origin story of Sun. Enjoy._

* * *

Sun stumbled over a crack in the uneven pavement and his body lurched forward. His delicate balance lost, Sun's body threatening to fall and make his face and the ground acquaintances. Wildly, Sun failed his arms out to grab something so that he could regain his composure. Just as he was about to reach the point-of-no-return, the faunus managed to wrap his hand around a lamppost. The cool, dark metal helped Sun to be able to support himself while he regained his footing.

Sun was at his limit.

His body was at its limit. While the cauterization had stopped the bleeding for the moment, the scabs had started to break with all of Sun's recent movements. Red liquid was occasionally dripping out of the wounds all across his body. It was also becoming increasingly apparent to Sun that there were still two _very_ long blades stuck in his body. With every movement of his arm or flex of his abdomen, he felt the blades' presences. They were there. Immovable. Constant. Pressing against the muscles that wanted to move. If Sun had possessed any energy, he would have been annoyed.

Sun took a deep breath and replaced his feet. It was a shaky breath and not nearly as deep as he had meant it to be. But he had to keep moving, so Sun began to walk once more. It couldn't really be called walking in all honesty. It was more like shuffling. Sun wasn't able to pick his feet all the way off the ground. So they slid. They slid across the pavement with steady rasping noises. Every rock, crack, upraising, or downfall of the pavement was a challenge to Sun. He had lost almost all sense of balance. The only reason he could shuffle down the road was because of his tail. It moved in every direction to try and equalize the forces across his body and keep its owner upright.

Sun's head throbbed painful and he gasped, bringing a hand up to his head. The pain didn't stop, and instead flared tenfold. Sun cried out and dropped to his knees, doubling over from the pain. With every pound of his heart, the pain in his skull grew and Sun knew that if he passed out, he might never wake up again. He had to stay conscious. He couldn't afford to be in a coma. He had to win. He had to fight. He had to. He had. He.

Sun slipped from his knees and rolled onto his back. His eyes were hazy and unfocused. He had only managed to walk to the next street lamp, but it was progress. And lying on his back like this stopped his head from hurting. Sun tried to take a deep breath but only received another shallow and shaky one. To himself, he silently resolved to lay for only a minute or two. He had to get to the hospital soon. If he passed out here, he would most likely be mugged or killed by the inhabitants of the neighborhood.

Only a minute or two. Sun blinked and the darkness that followed his eyelids invited him to stay. It was tempting. To just let go. To let the pain go. To let someone in the future deal with his problems right now. He could just lay here and forget about the world. Stare at the bulb of the lamppost. Yeah, that sounded good…

Sun's eyes snapped open. No. He had to get to the hospital. He had to get help. He was going to die. Sun tried to roll onto his stomach so that he could stand up, but found his body unresponsive. With a grunt, he tried again. And again. And again.

But it was no use. His body had given up. It had shut down for the day. While his mind was still set on the goal, his body no longer cared. For all his body cared, he could die on the street there. Bloodstained. Weak. Unmoving. A true hero's death. But it wouldn't move. No. It wouldn't move.

Sun sighed. He knew that his body _could _move; he wasn't paralyzed after all; but he didn't have enough energy to _make_ it move. His body didn't have a mind of its own. That would just be weird.

Sun turned his eyes back to the light bulb above him. It was so bright. It stung his eyes to stare at it, but he continued to do so. If he was in pain, he couldn't pass out. If he didn't pass out, he had a chance at surviving. And if there was anything that Sun Wukong was good at, it was surviving.

But it was so _bright_. It pained him. His eyes felt like they were cooking under the heat lamp of the bulb. His entire body was hot. His blood was boiling. His breaths were short and fast and his throat scorched from the hot air. He choked on the hot air, it not giving him enough substance, but he continued to stare at the bulb. He had to. He _had _to. If he didn't he would die. If he died, he couldn't live. If he couldn't live that meant that he would be dead. There was no way that Sun was going to allow himself to be dead.

Sun continued to stare, but soon the pain was unbearable. He could feel blisters growing on his skin. Smoke started to appear from his clothes as they steadily approached flash-ignition point. Hot sand poured down his throat with every breath that he took from the desert of his mouth. The rubber on his gauntlets began to melt and the smell assaulted Sun's nose.

Everything hurt. All of his senses. All of his body. Everything. With a cry, Sun shut his eyes and turned his head away from the light bulb.

And it was all gone.

The heat. The sand. The rubber. The pain. All of it was replaced with the cool night air and the pressing silence. His eyes still stung, that much was for sure; but his body was fine. There was still no energy to be spared from vital bodily functions, and Sun was still losing blood at a slow, but steady pace; but other than that, his body was fine. No blisters. No smoking clothes. Perfect.

Sun took another breath. This time, his breath was deep and steady. He let it out. And then he took another. And let that one out. And again. And again.

It wasn't until too late that Sun felt the soft grip of sleep grab hold of his mind and take him. He didn't regret that sleep had taken him. He regretted that it had been so easy.

* * *

Sun saw the man tap on the ground twice instead of hearing it. Releasing the hold Sun had on the man's arm, Sun stood up and raised his own arms in victory. The crowd reciprocated. Instead of the mildly deafening, the volume of the crowd rose to an eardrum-shattering cheer. Sun whooped and cheered for himself, running around the ring of spectators giving high fives to anyone who wanted them. As he completed the circle, he snatched his pay of the betting money from Jin and held it high in the air. The crowd roared again and Sun jumped up and down a few times with excitement.

Sun noticed his opponent leaving the circle of fighters and spat him. Trying to be heard over the roar of the crowd he screamed, "This is my ring! Nobody can beat me in my ring! Whoo!" The young faunus pumped his arms into the air and he kicked dirt at the fallen opponent.

Jin, the announcer, stepped forward from the crowd and held up his hands for silence. It took a minute or two for the crowd to die down, a tense silence eventually came. Jin put his hands down and grabbed hold of one of Sun's arms. He thrust the arm upwards and shouted, "The champion of the circle stays on top! Reigning champion Sun Wukong everybody!" The crowd cheered again, but only stayed loud for twenty or so seconds.

The announcer took advantage of the lull in volume and dropped Sun's arm. "Who would have thought that when a twelve year old monkey-faunus came to us, wanting to fight, he would go undefeated for two and a half years?" The crowd fell silent and Jin continued his speech. "Who would have thought that the same boy who came to us, all beat and battered, would be the terror of the underground fight scene?" The announcer swung his arms around and addressed the crowd of blood thirsty observers. "Who?" No response. "WHO?"

More cheers came up from the crowd and some shouted out. Sun couldn't hear them but he didn't care. The crowd. The money. Jin and his ridiculous "gangster" outfit. This was his life. And he loved it.

The announcer raised his arms for silence again. The crowd fell silent. In a low voice the announcer continued. "If there is anyone who thinks they can stand up to the power of Wukong, please step forward. He's still thirsty for a fight after that last match!" No sound came from the crowd. Nobody dared to face Sun. All the lustful eyes had turned either downwards or skywards. None could meet Sun's eyes. Eyes filled with anger. Eyes filled with rage. Eyes filled with the desire to be challenged.

The announcer took a breath to begin speaking again, but was interrupted. A voice came from the crowd, "I will." The entire crowd turned to the voice. A pathway split so that Sun could see the speaker.

Sun immediately started laughing. It was an old man. A short old man with white hair and a cane. Green and gold robe covered his entire body and he was hunched over like the entire weight of the world was pressed on his back. In other words, he was a wreck. The crowd joined in on Sun's laughter and even Jin let a smile crack.

"Sorry, buddy. We're not into beating up helpless people here. They at least have to have _some _sort of chance." The announcer turned to the crowd. "But seriously. Anyone here want to fight Sun? There's good money in it if you win."

The laughing of the crowd subsided. No one answered the call. But then the voice came again. That same old, crotchety voice. "You're right. I don't want to hurt sonny over there too badly." This time the voice was louder. Sun turned and noticed that the old man was now on the edge of the circle. Several of the other members of the circle jumped back in surprise. They hadn't noticed the old man sneak up.

Sun raised his eyebrows and held up his hand for silence from the announcer. He looked the old man up and down. "What do you think you're doing here _human_?" There was a sharp intake of breath from the crowd as everyone realized that their newcomer lacked any sort of distinctive feature that a faunus would have.

The old man look Sun in the eye. His face was wrinkled and eyes looked to be half closed. "I don't believe there is a rule against me being here and wanting to fight, if I'm not mistaken." The old man tapped his cane on the soft dirt. "Am I?"

Several protests went up from the crowd but the announcer held up his hand to silence them. "Are you serious, old man? Do you really want to fight?" The old man nodded in the affirmative and Sun turned to Jin. The latter shrugged and Sun gave an incredulous look.

"You can't expect me to fight this guy. He's ancient. One hit and I'll kill him." Sun motioned towards the old man with his hand. "He looks like the wind would blow him away. There's no way."

"Look man, he wants to fight. So why not? Try to not kill him. Easy money." Jin shrugged again. "We aren't much better than the humans if we don't let this guy fight."

Sun rolled his eyes. "Deep words coming from a gang-banger." Sun turned to the old man. "You aren't serious right? Like this is a nursing home prank gone wrong?" A laugh rippled through the crowd but silence took over again.

The old man locked eyes with Sun. "Of course I am serious. But I don't want your money. I want this to be more interesting." Whistles came up through the crowd. The old man smiled. "If I win, you come with me and quit fighting here." Protests rose from the crowd but Sun put a stop to them.

"And if I win?"

The old man smiled. "Whatever you want to wish for sonny. It doesn't really matter since you won't."

The crowd laughed at the smack talk coming from the old man. Sun grinned and moved to the other side of the circle, pushing Jin out of the way. "_When_, I win, I want you to move into a mental institution. You clearly need it and I think that it's about time that I help to service the elderly." The crowd jeered at the old man.

"As long as you give your word to the terms of this fight, then I accept." The man's voice was oddly solemn. As if Sun's word was something incredibly important and solemn.

Sun rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I agree to the terms."

Jin shrugged and a few of the crowd laughed at the situation playing out in front of them. "Alright. Well Sun vs. Challenger. Fight I guess." The announcer had lost his enthusiasm from the previous fight and half-heartedly dropped his arm.

The circle closed shied away from the old man so that it was just him and Sun in the center. Neither moved after the fight had been called. Sun didn't want to accidentally kill the old man. He could be labeled as a dirty faunus, a thief, a miscreant, a scoundrel, and any number of other things, but he was _not _a murderer. Murder was for cowards. And Sun was no coward.

The old man shuffled forward a few feet. Sun remained motionless. No sound escaped the crowd. They weren't in their usual uproar. So it was very clearly heard when the old man spoke, "Too afraid sonny? I'm not surprised. You're so weak; you couldn't break change if you had all the lien in the world!" The old man cackled at his own joke and the crowd joined him. Hoots and hollers came from the crowd and Sun felt a push against his back, propelling him towards the old man.

Sun struck. Continuing with the momentum of the push, he ran at the old man and threw a kick at the man's side.

With a heavy thud, Sun's leg stopped. It had been met with an iron wall of muscle and bone that had risen up in the form of the old man's arms. Faster than Sun could follow, the old man slid one arm around Sun's leg and stepped closer to his opponent. He placed his other hand on the inside of Sun's thigh and lifted the young boy. Despite the old man being only five feet tall, Sun felt his body rise off the ground. Sun felt his back collide with the ground and he gasped, the air being pushed out of his lungs by force of the impact. The old man somehow managed to slither one hand up Sun's body and placed it over the young boy's mouth, keeping him from taking another breath.

Sun panicked and quickly tried to think of a way out of his situation. He couldn't breathe and he didn't have control over his body. It simply wasn't responding. Knowing that he had been beat, Sun tapped his fingers twice against the ground. The old man noticed the motion and got off of Sun, the younger boy gasping for air immediately afterwards.

A gasp came from the entirety of the crowd. Whispers of what had just happened could be heard as well. Jin stepped forward. "Um, I guess this guy in the winner." He motioned towards the old man, who had moved to pick up his cane from the dirt. No cheers came. No deafening roar. No victory high-fives. Just silence.

The old man grabbed his cane and smiled at the announcer. "Thank you." He turned to Sun. "Now, come with me." The old man walked to the edge of the circle and a pathway opened for him.

Sun stood up but didn't move. Instead he angrily called after the man, "Yeah, right. You cheated. There's no choking allowed." Sun knew that was a lie but he hadn't expected to lose. He had to escape in some sort of loophole. Jin gave him a quizzical look but didn't speak to correct the fighter. Even he wouldn't step up to Wukong.

Sun felt a sharp pain on the back of his neck and on the back his knees and dropped. Somehow the old man had managed to come back and crack him with the cane. The old man leaned down and whispered into Sun's ear. "Do not lie to me, boy. I know your rules. You gave your word. If you now break that word, you will be worse than a coward." Sun moved to say something but felt his face hit the dirt. "Cowards at least know what they fear. You fear the unknown, which makes you little more than a pup." The old man lifted Sun's face out of the dirt and directed it at his own. "Now are you a coward or a pup? Choose wisely."

Sun bit his lip. "Neither. I am Sun Wukong."

The old man smiled. "Then at least I know you aren't as dense as you appear to be." The old man lifted Sun onto his feet and brushed some dirt off of his own robes. "Now come with me. We have much to do."

The announcer moved to stop the old man and even the crowd seemed to converge, but Sun stopped them with a raised hand. "I'll go with him. I lost. Fair and square. It was nice fighting for you guys." Sun winked at the crowd and pulled the winnings from the bets out of his pocket. "Go wild." Sun tossed the money into the crowd and it soon became more of a mosh-pit, with everyone trying to get as much money as possible.

Sun held out his hand to Jin. It was accepted and a handshake was exchanged. "All good things right?" The announcer grimaced at his own statement. "Good luck man."

"Yeah, you too." Sun released his friend's hand and turned to follow the old man. He didn't know where he was going, but that didn't really matter. He wasn't a coward. He wasn't a 'pup.' He was Sun Wukong. And if he had to look stupid because he lost a bet, then so bet it.

* * *

Sun's eyes fluttered open. The street lamp had gone off and as more things became apparent, Sun could see that the dark of midnight no longer clung to the sky. Instead, rays of sunlight could be seen streaking the sky and breaking up the darkness. Dawn. Sun had slept all night.

With a sigh, Sun tried to move. But he couldn't. His body was still frozen and unwilling to cooperate with its owner. Sun cried out in annoyance, his voice echoing down the empty roads and houses. It didn't seem like anyone could hear him, as no one came, but that didn't matter. Someone would show up eventually. Maybe. Hopefully.

Sun felt weak though. He _was _weak. He had been bleeding onto the pavement for six hours now. While the blood loss had been minimal, due to his slowed heartbeat and the fact that the wounds were _generally_ closed, it had added up. Sun cried out again, this time with a hint of fear, "Help me!"

Now that Sun was awake he could feel how much blood he had lost. He was exhausted, despite having just woke up. "Help me!" He wanted to sleep. To shut his eyes and never open again. "Help…" To sleep forever. The darkness. "Me…"

Sun turned his head before his weariness overtook him and noticed two people on a corner down the road from him. He couldn't make out any distinct features that they possessed because of his rapidly failing vision, but they seemed to be moving towards him. They seemed to be moving towards him quickly. So quickly. Quick…ly…

The last thing Sun heard before he lost use of his ears was the voice of a woman. It was laced with alcohol and slurred occasionally, but it certainly seemed too recognizable to the dying man. "Is that Sun?" Sun cracked a smile before he lost total consciousness. _No, that's the other monkey faunus you know who doesn't wear a shirt…_

* * *

_A/N: Not too busy of a week coming up. Should be able to update. But I mean, that probably doesn't have much weight with it considering that I have said that every chapter now and still not done it. Drop a review if you enjoyed. Thanks for reading._


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: Hey, managed to get this out two days early. Long update. Enjoy_

* * *

Sun felt the darkness vibrate around him as the voices interacted with each other but he didn't pay them any mind. If the owners were going to hurt or rob him then there wasn't much he could do about it considering his state of consciousness.

Instead, Sun felt his mind start to wander. Slowly, from the darkness, images came and started to pass by. At first, Sun couldn't tell exactly what the images were of, but as more and more hovered past, he gathered a general theme.

They were all of his years spent training.

Not all of them were still pictures either. Some moved and showed a small movie over and over again. All around his consciousness Sun could see and feel the memories circling him. There was the first time he had won a match against his teacher. Across from that was the time that Sun had dropped a dumpling, only to have it speared by a chopstick on its way to the ground. Skewered by Sensei. Right next to that was when Sun had started an argument and run from the compound. It showed him braving the winter cold and resorting to petty theft to eat. At the edge of his memory, Sun could recall every different method of training Sensei had used.

Everything. Every tiny detail of his years in training was right in front of him to look at. Four years of blood. Four years of sweat. Four years of endless days. All laid out perfectly for Sun to bask in. It was so much information that he could barely function. All around him were vibrant and brilliant colors and everywhere he turned a new memory started playing, assaulting his senses and mind.

It was all too much for him to handle.

So he took it in all at once.

Like an ocean, Sun let all of the memories come and wash over his mind. He let everything meld and mix and come together. The memories fused and, not unlike colors, spawned an entirely new species from what-once-was. His conscious took a step back and observed the creation. In it, he could see only the most important memories. It was as if his entire experience had been condensed down to only the most important parts. Without all the minutia, Sun could handle looking at and observing the memories as the flowed by.

But observing wasn't enough. Sun wanted to relive those memories. So, taking a mental step forward, Sun allowed the memory movie to wash over him and take him to a new place.

* * *

Sun felt three sharp _taps! _travel up his arm before the scene came totally into focus. With a groan that wasn't totally his own, Sun felt his body drop to the ground and felt his weight being repeatedly moving up and down. Push-ups. He was doing push-ups.

The haziness of the memory focused into sharp color and Sun took a second to take in the scenery. He was back home. And by that, Sun meant that he was in the only place he had every truly called home. His surroundings oozed familiarity. The cherry blossoms that never seemed to wilt, despite the extreme temperature shifts of the northern Atlas regions. The short, pagoda style house with its white screen panels and miniature everything. Even the bamboo matts underfoot screamed of familiarity.

Sun was back in Sensei's dojo. His shoes were haphazardly piled against one of the screen walls with his shirt resting on top of them. Sun could sense the stone wall behind him that held various weapons and had dummies for practice leaned casually in the corner. The sun from the open roof warmed Sun's spirit as he continued to do push-ups. And, sure enough, Sun could sense Sensei's presence. There, in the dojo with him.

Home.

"That's three questions right?" Sun felt his own voice come out. But it wasn't his. It was far too nasally and not playful enough to be his. It sounded more like a child who been hit one too many times, questioning the motives of the father's handshake. It sounded broken.

There was a laugh that echoed off of the dojo walls exceptionally well. It was so clear and sharp and full of mirth that Sun was taken aback. He hadn't heard a sound that pure in a long time. "No Sun, that only counts as one strike." His teacher's voice was cool and calm despite the frustrated pupil. "All three strikes were in less than a second. Therefore, you only earn one question." The logic still didn't make any sense to Sun, but he felt happiness roll over his mind.

He had missed that logic.

The nasally voice came again. Sun realized it was his voice. His voice from nine years ago. "That's hardly fair old man." Young Sun's voice was filled with annoyance. It was also breathless. Apparently thirty push-ups was too many for him. "Whatever," Sun felt his body say. "Why did you bring me here?"

There was a thoughtful hum from Sensei. Then an answer, "I brought you here because you need guidance. You might say that I have a talent for providing good advice to troubled youth. Now, up!" Sun heard a sharp tap and felt his head move to look at the sound. Not two inches from his head, the end of a bamboo staff was resting.

Sun felt a few grumbles in his chest but moved to stand up again. The teenager's voice sounded off again, "Not sure it makes sense to give me answers when I get hit. Doesn't that just encourage me to get hit more?" Again the voice was one of annoyance. Sun had forgotten how much he had resented Sensei for the first few weeks of their time together. Every day had been like this. Come out, get hit, gain information, go in, eat, go to sleep, repeat. It had been a rough start, but eventually Sun had come to trust the old man. Apparently, that moment hadn't come yet.

"Because, as much as I enjoy hitting you," Sensei deflected a sharp glare with his hand, "I know you want information. So we will continue this exercise until you know all you want to know. And then we will move on." Sensei motioned for Sun to pick up the staff next to him. "Ready. Begin."

Watching through his younger eyes, Sun could tell that the old man was going easy on him. While Sun was considered one of, if not _the_ best staff master in all of Remnant, he had learned everything from Sensei. It was like watching a force of nature. The old man could swivel and pivot and work with the flexible wood like it was a part of his body. It was as if Sensei had his second mind in the staff and he was able to communicate with the wood. It was unbelievable.

While Sun felt his younger self stumbling and trying to land a hit on his opponent, he also felt that his younger self was completely ignorant of the artistry that he was observing. It was a shame to see something so perfect and not fully appreciate it, but that was exactly what the Teenage Sun was doing. It was embarrassing.

Sun heard a sharp crack and a ping of excitement. He had forced the old man to block! That meant he was getting closer to beating this guy and-

An instant before it happened, Sun knew what was coming. A meaty _smack!_ filled the air and he spun to the ground, hand shooting up to grab his jaw. "Argh!" He groaned. Sun hadn't seen the other end of the staff come up in time to block the strike. "What the hell! That hurt!"

Sensei's voice was quite but very solemn. "Failure hurts Sun. Now, ask your question and we will be done for today. You have suffered enough."

Sun rubbed his sore jaw but still moved to make eye contact with the man. Those half-shut green eyes stared back at him. "What do you have to gain from this whole thing? Why bother trying to teach a kid who doesn't want to learn?"

Another thoughtful hum escaped Sensei's throat. A full minute passed before he decided to answer. "Sometimes, the best students are students who don't want to be. I stand to gain a pupil with abilities that far exceed my own." Sensei bent down and reached a hand out to Sun to help him up. "I stand to gain a pupil who will change the world. I don't know if you are that grasshopper, but you certainly have the talent. Now it is only up to you to decide if you want to learn, or remain ignorant."

Sun grabbed Sensei's hand and pulled himself up using the leverage. He was unnerved by the man's words but didn't say so. What kind of guy steals a kid off the streets just to teach him how to fight? What kind of guy lives in a delusional world that he thinks he'll be the one to raise the next world-shaper? Who thinks that? But Sun didn't comment on his worrying thoughts. Instead he just glared at the shorter man. "I'm not ignorant. I don't want to be your student, but I won't abandon my word. I'll stick around for as long as you'll have me."

Sensei smiled. "Good." He motioned to the door with his free hand. "Then let us prepare dinner. Cooking is just as vital as fighting." Sun grunted and moved with the older man to the screen. It slid open and Sun deliberately stepped in first. With a bow, Sensei followed.

But Sun's conscious hadn't followed the two. It had stayed in the center of the dojo, hovering. He smelt the petals of the cherry tree and moved to look at the source. The top of the tree just barely poked above the stone wall and the roots seemed to disrupt the dirt underneath the bamboo pads that had been placed. At the very top of the tree, Sun could just barely spy the setting son. Or was it rising? He had never been good with directions.

* * *

The scene melted away and blackness swarmed his mind again. But this time, it remained empty and seemed to be jostling up and down. While he couldn't actually throw up, Sun was distinctly aware of the fact that he would have if possible. Darkness vibrated intensely with a voice. This time, Sun could make out the individual words.

"We have to get to the hospital. He looks like he is going to die." This voice was feminine. It was laced with worry and concern seemed vaguely familiar. For some reason, the darkness that had swallowed Sun's mind seemed to jiggle a bit more when he tried to identify the voice and he felt his face burn red. However, it seemed his limitless memory stopped at his training years because he couldn't pin who the voice belonged to.

"No time. This way." This new voice was tight and curt. Much like it didn't want to waste air on words that needed not be said. The voice was also breathless. Sun figured that the new feminine voice was the one carrying him. While he tried to, Sun was also unsuccessful in pinning the voice to a name. The voice brought a familiar pair of golden eyes to the forefront of his memory but Sun didn't know who they belonged to. He had met several pairs of eyes like that over the years so they stayed unidentifiable.

Shrugging off the inability to remember the names of his saviors, Sun scanned his mind again. Out of nowhere, the memory movie came hurtling forward. He would have smiled if he could have as he stepped back into the waves of the memories.

* * *

"Eat. You had a long day." Sensei's voice filled Sun's mind as the scene came into focus. They were both kneeling at the ridiculously low table that had been set up right next to the kitchen. The only differences between this room and the dojo was that this room had a roof and could be considered 'indoors.' Otherwise, it was the same screens, the same bamboo flooring, and the same old man. Resting in the center of the table was a bonsai tree. It was a young one, no more than fifteen years old and was barely starting to take the shape that Sensei had designed for it. The plant added a personal touch to the almost barren room.

Sun placed his chopsticks on the table and looked up from his bowl. "I'm sorry sir; I just need to ask a question." His voice had deepened. Apparently, during the year intermission puberty had his Sun pretty hard. If he could have, Sun would have laughed. He could only imagine that his face was some sort of wreck of pimples and his hair way too long to be acceptable. Sun could only hope that he was past his 'failing mustache' phase by now.

Sensei looked up from his bowl and slurped down some noodles. "Go ahead. No need to wait." The old man motioned with his chopsticks for Sun to continue and resumed eating the noodles. The chicken broth noodles that Sun could make had always been his kryptonite.

"Why did you bring me here?"

Sensei looked up again. A puzzled expression hovered over his face. "I believe I have already answered this question for you Sun. Last year, when you first got here." Sensei tapped his temple with a chopstick, "taken one too many shots to the head have you?"

Sun took a mouthful of noodles while he thought over his answer. Sensei was right, he had already answered that question, but something had been missing the first time he had asked. Some key part that would have changed the overall tone of the response. Sun had remembered the conversation this morning and had been mulling it over all day. He swallowed the noodles and let the hot broth scald his throat before speaking again, "That can't be the only reason you brought me here. Lots of kids need help and guidance. Lots of kids are homeless. So why haven't you brought any more onboard with the whole 'training' thing?" Sun made air quotes with his fingers when the word "training" came up. He didn't know why. It just seemed appropriate.

A thoughtful hum. Over the past year, Sun had learned that a hum meant that he had asked a good question. It also meant that he had more time to actually eat his food. While he wasn't a huge fan of the noodles he cooked, Sun was starved and the previous mouthful of flavor had reminded him of that. He slurped down several mouthful of the food before Sensei returned with a response.

"You are very right Sun." Sensei tapped the ends of his chopsticks together at Sun in a jab. "There are lots of unfortunate youths. Why would I choose you indeed?" Sensei raised his eyebrows at Sun. "Is it because you are talented?" Sun felt his head shake. "There are a lot of talented young people. Is it because you were convenient and the first youth I saw?" Again, Sun felt his head shake. "You took quite a long time to find Sun. Is it because I have some sort of guilt that has yet to be resolved for my mistreatment of the faunus as a younger man?" Sun shook his head. He expected more from the old man but received none.

Sun pressed further. "So why? You must have a reason."

"I don't know."

"What?"

"I don't know." Sensei shrugged his shoulders. It was the first time that Sun had ever heard the man say he didn't know something. Usually he was a wealth of information on any subject that Sun could think of. So hearing him say that he didn't know something was a bit shocking.

"You don't know?" Sun let out a heavy sigh and frowned. "Here I was, expecting some sort of grasshopper speech and all I get is, 'I don't know.' What's up with that?" Sun shook his head incredulously. The old man knew he was joking, but he still had to put on a show.

Again, Sensei shrugged. "It is good to help those who look as if they need it. Always be aware of those who need help or look like they need a friend to speak with." Sensei's voice had gone solemn again. One of his periodic life-lessons had slipped out. "Something about you, Sun, spoke to me. I don't know what, but I felt that you needed me and I needed you."

Sun smiled and he felt a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Don't be a perv, old man. I'm not even eighteen yet."

Sensei turned his head upwards and let loose a laugh. It echoed throughout the house, despite coming from such a frail looking man. He looked back at Sun and tapped the ends of his chopsticks at him again, "Have to get them young! Can't run the risk of them realizing I'm full of ill intent!"

"Full of something else too…" Sun mumbled. Sensei let loose another laugh.

"Your right! I am full of those noodles. Now go make more as punishment for being so rude." A hearty _slap!_ was heard as Sensei placed his hand on his stomach. Surprised, Sun noticed that the man's bowl was empty. He hadn't even noticed that Sensei had been eating while they had been talking.

Sun stood from his kneeling position and bowed to his teacher. "Yes sir." He playfully mocked. Moving quickly, Sun grabbed the Sensei's bowl and moved to the kitchen.

Sun's conscious didn't follow his body. Instead, it stayed with Sensei. And just as the scene began to fade, he saw the man look between the plant in the middle of the table and his apprentice. A sense of profound achievement seemed to flash across his features before the scene totally faded from view.

* * *

Sun felt his body being gently placed as the darkness took hold again. While he couldn't feel it, Sun was sure that his back was pressed against some sort of metal. He couldn't explain it, but he simply knew.

"You can't be serious. You can't perform surgery! You're half drunk and half asleep!" The jiggling voice exclaimed. Apparently, it was not a fan of what its partner was about to do. While Sun couldn't be sure who was undergoing surgery, he certainly felt bad for them. A drunk surgeon wasn't a good surgeon.

There was a frustrated sigh from the golden-eyed voice. "He won't make it if I don't. He's lost a lot of blood. I have to pull out the bullet and two blades and then stitch him up." Sun felt a weird sensation originating from his midsection. It felt like something was poking around inside of him without hurting him. "I don't know what he did, but he bought us some time. Go get some rubbing alcohol."

The jiggling voice sighed but didn't say anything. After a minute of silence and the continuing of that weird sensation, the jiggling voice came back. "Here you go. You think this is going to work?"

Sun heard the distinct sound of liquid being poured into a glass and then the tinkling of metal on glass. "Let's hope so." The golden-eyed voice said grimly.

Wishing luck to whomever was undergoing the surgery; Sun stepped back into his memories. Within an instant the colors and senses overwhelmed him and he began a new memory.

* * *

Before the scene came into focus, Sun knew exactly which memory it was. In his hands, he felt the familiar weight of his signature weapon and heard a heavy sigh from his friend and teacher. They were back in the dojo and Sun could feel a sharp bite of cold in the air. It was winter now and he felt the air slide down his throat and into his lungs, chilling the entire way. Sensei wasn't one to skimp on training just because of the weather.

"You aren't serious, are you Sun?" The voice was filled with a defeated tone. Apparently he had skipped the entire argument about the practicality of swinging around four shotguns at once and then attaching those shotguns together to make a staff.

Sun felt a smile creep onto his lips. "Come on! Look at this thing Sensei! How can't you love it?" Sun flipped the weapon over his shoulders and spun it so that it landed softly on his palms. The cool red and gold metal of the staff form was a bit heavy in Sun's arms, but that was just because he wasn't used to swinging it around yet. That would change soon.

Sensei pinched the bridge of his nose, just underneath white bangs that hung down loosely. "It's eccentric, absurd, impractical, ridiculous, and not even a little traditional." His voiced was filled with annoyance but not with cruelty or animosity.

Sun smiled. "So you're saying its perfect?"

Sensei looked up at his pupil and let out a heavy sigh. "For you? Yes. It is perfect."

Sun whooped and pumped his fists into the air, sending the staff flying. Realizing his mistake, Sun spun and caught the staff with his tail. With a laugh, Sun bent backwards and went so that he was performing a handstand. He turned so that he could eye his teacher while upside down. "Come on old man, this is great!" Sun rolled out of his handstand and grabbed his new weapon. Quickly, he transformed the weapon so he was whirling the shotguns around in red blurs. They were a bit heavy and messed up his swing a bit, but it was nothing Sun couldn't fix with a bit of practice.

Sensei sighed again but showed a smile this time. "When I said that you should build your own weapon, I didn't have this in mind."

Sun managed to shrug despite having to focus on spinning the shotguns carefully. A smile was still on his face. "You've always told me I'm good with the nunchaku and the staff, so why not combine them?"

"And the shotguns?"

"They're just a bonus." Sun noticed the worried look of his master. "I'll be fine. They're just like normal nunchaku. Only with bullets."

Sensei rolled his eyes. "As long as you're careful with those things I suppose you can-"

A sharp blast rang out in the courtyard and Sun felt a sharp bite on his side. With a curse he stopped swinging the shotguns and looked down at his side. A small portion of his skin was missing and the barrel of one of the shotguns was smoking suspiciously. Looking behind him, Sun noticed a hole in one of the screens exiting the dojo. With a sheepish smile Sun looked back at his instructor.

"Whoops."

* * *

The darkness came back suddenly this time. Sun still had that weird sensation that someone was poking around him, but now it was more profound. Now it wasn't something that could be ignored. It was _very _present and _very _annoying.

"I gotta say Blake, I'm impressed. I didn't think that you were into the whole 'gore' thing." The jiggling voice seemed to be in awe of the one called Blake. "But you're getting right up in there. Go Blake!" Sun could only image that the jiggling voice was pumping its arms up in the air right now.

An annoyed sigh escaped the one called Blake's mouth. "I would appreciate some silence right now Yang." Apparently gold-eyes belonged to Blake. It made sense to Sun for this to be the case, but he couldn't understand why. Maybe the eyes just seemed like the belonged to a Blake.

Blake let loose a curse and Sun felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. "Shit. Wasn't supposed to nick that. Yang, I need some help; you have to…"

Sun felt the memories engulf him even though he was far more engaged in the outcome of the drunken surgery. Apparently, he wasn't quite done reliving his past.

* * *

Sun's eyes shot open as he heard a crash from the other room. He was lying on the bamboo flooring in his sleeping bag. Knowing that Sensei was not one to stumble around and knock into his own stuff, Sun quickly got up and grabbed his signature weapon off of the wall it was leaning against.

Sun quietly slid the screen over and stuck his head out of his room. Swiveling it to either side, no intruders stuck out of the darkness of night. Sun placed a bare foot outside of his room. And then the other. And then another until he was well outside of the screen. Using his staff, Sun slid the screen closed. It clicked deafeningly as it came to a close. Sun flinched away from the noise but nothing came in retaliation.

Moving as stealthily as his body would allow him to, Sun made his way to the source of the noise. It was a slow process, but after several minutes, Sun managed to reach the living room. The screen was open and, peering into the room, Sun could see that a vase had fallen and shattered. It was the vase that Sun had gotten Sensei for a gift only a few months ago. It had been more of a joke than anything, but it still hurt Sun to see it shattered on the ground.

Sun moved into the living room and looked around for any open or suspicious screens that would show if an intruder was nearby. He didn't have to look hard considering that even the faintest of moonlight that was provided was enough to see through the thin screens. When Sun had first moved in, it had been a point of contention, but now he couldn't care less.

Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, Sun sighed and let his guard down. There was no way that an intruder would have been able to escape quickly without making more noise in the process. Apparently the wind had blown through one of the screens and knocked the vase off of its perch.

Sun moved his staff so that it was leaning up against a wall and bent down to look at the vase pieces. With a sigh, Sun brushed them into a pile with his hand. He would clean them up in the morning.

_Pmhp!_

Sun's blood went cold. Taking another look around and through the screens he tried to find the source of the noise. Despite the search though, Sun didn't find the source. It definitely hadn't been a figment of his imagination. Two noises without reasonable sources in one night could not be coincidence.

_Pmhp!_

The noise was from above him. Sun stood slowly and reached out to grab staff as casually as possible. He didn't want to alert the intruder that he knew of his presence. Surprise was always an ally.

Grabbing his staff at the same time as spinning, Sun pointed one of the two business ends to the ceiling. Hanging between the rafters was a man dressed totally in black. The robber didn't look to be much older than Sun and was very pale.

"Alright buddy. Buck stops here." Sun kept his voice low. While he was sure that Sensei was awake, he didn't want to risk being the bad guy in this encounter. "Get down and I won't turn you in."

But the robber had a different idea of how this encounter was going to go down. Releasing all of his weight at once, the robber dropped on top of Sun. Not being able to dodge or support the weight of the other man, both of them fell to the ground in a loud _thump!_

Sun lost grip on his staff and it bounced away on the bamboo floors. Dazed by the collision, Sun didn't notice when the robber pulled a weapon out of his pocket and pressed it against Sun's chest.

"Don't move buddy. As long as you cooperate, nobody has to get hurt." The robber's voice wasn't nearly as menacing as he wanted it to be. Instead, it sounded like a scared teenager who was pressing a gun to another teenager's chest.

Sun raised his hands up to show that he didn't have any hidden weapons. "Hey man, look. It's okay. Just take what you want and it'll be alright."

The screen across the room slid open and Sensei stepped out, rubbing his eyes. "Sun, what is all the commotion, I-"

The robber aimed his gun and pulled the trigger on the newcomer. The sound of the gun going off assaulted Sun's ears and destroyed the peace of the night.

As if in slow motion, Sun saw Sensei raise a hand to his chest and it come away with blood. Turning back to the robber, he saw a look of panic stretch over the man's face. It was clear that he hadn't meant to do what had been done, but that didn't matter. He had shot Sensei. _Shot_ him.

Sun bucked wildly to throw off the intruder. The robber used the momentum of the bucking to quickly get off of his hostage but pointed the gun at him as soon as he re-gained his footing. "Don't move or I'll shoot."

Sun swore violently. "I'll _kill _you for what you did. I'll _fuckin' murder _you." His voice was low and dangerous. While he hadn't moved, his body was tensed to do so. Sun could probably reach the man before he could pull the trigger. It was simple statistics. Sun was fast and there was no way the other man would be able to keep up with his reflexes. Before he could pounce, Sun heard a familiar voice.

"Let him go Sun. Please sir. Leave my home." Sensei had spoken. In the time that he had been shot, somehow he had managed to sink to the floor without anyone noticing.

Sun looked at his mentor. "Sir, I… He has to _pay_. He shot you I mean…"

This earned a stern look from the fallen mentor. "Sun. I am your teacher. Listen to me and come here. It is difficult speaking so loudly."

Sun moved to the old man as he heard the noise of retreating footsteps. Apparently their thief had heeded the warning and decided to escape. Not like he needed a second invitation.

Sun reached Sensei and pressed his hand against the chest wound, applying pressure. With his other hand, Sun moved to cradle the man's head. "Sir, I'll go get the medical supplies. I'll patch you up and we'll be okay. Just give me a second and I'll be right ba-"

"Sun." The voice was stern. It was the tone that let Sun know he should be listening. "I am going to die. I have three final orders for you." Sun took a breath to protest but a hard look silenced him. "One, clean up the house before you leave. It's a mess. Make sure to dust those rafters."

Sun's face burned with embarrassment at the order, but he didn't break eye contact with Sensei. Not now. Not now...

"Two, take care of that bonsai over there. It is yours now." Sensei motioned with his hand towards the bonsai that rested on the kitchen table. "It will take a better hand than mine to tame that beast."

Sun felt tears starting to burn his eyes. "Sensei…"

"Promise to take care of it. Give me your word." Sun nodded in response. It was strange knowing that the old man was dying. He didn't seem any different than normal. Still the same stern tones and wise cracks at the expense of Sun's well-being. But, holding him in his arms, Sun could feel the life leaving his best friend.

"Finally, Sun, please take this gift from me." Sensei reached inside of his cloak and pulled out a necklace. It was warm from the body heat the man was giving off, but Sun accepted it eagerly, wrapping the golden medallion around his neck. "My master gave it to me. It is yours now."

Sun nodded in understanding. "Sensei." His voice cracked. "You. You were like a father to me."

The old man smiled. "I _am_ like a father to you. I always will be. And a piece of fatherly advice for you then, make some friends. Your time with me has left you with little to no social skills. Would be a shame to waste a body like that with the hermit lifestyle." Sensei laughed before a shiver ran through his body and Sensei smiled at his student. "I believe it is my time. Goodbye, son."

With wracked sobs and a pain in his chest, Sun felt the life of his mentor leave his body. A piercing wail was the last thing his conscious heard before blackness swallowed the scene and his mind stopped replaying old memories.

When Sun opened his eyes, they were full of tears.

* * *

_A/N: Hope the twenty or thirty of you guys who are reading this are enjoying it. Drop a review and leave some feedback if are so inclined. Thanks for reading._


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: Two updates in one week. Alright. To be fair, they are both my longest and shortest chapters respectively, so. Enjoy._

* * *

Sun moved to wipe the tears out of his eyes but felt a sharp pain shoot through his side, stopping his arm's progress. With a groan, Sun dropped his arm and raised his head instead. Craning his neck and blinking away the tears, Sun was able to see a mess of white crisscrossing his chest. Bandages. And a lot of them. Many pieces of the cloth were wrapped tightly around his stomach and chest. Sun could also feel the heavy fabric surrounding both of his shoulders.

With a grunt, Sun attempted to raise himself from wherever he was laying. Pain shot up from his stomach and he decided that staying motionless was a much better option. It would give him an opportunity to find out where he was. Moving his neck, Sun took in his surroundings.

He was in a small apartment. It was decorated with simple, but effective decorations and adornments. The colors seemed to favor a sharp contrasting pallet of black, purple, and solid white. A few plants, a painting, a small area rug. The room was incredibly sparse and the contemporary style didn't help the impersonal feeling that it was exuding. Straining his neck a bit, Sun could see the shining metal of the table he was laying on. Now that he had come to consciousness, he was distinctly aware of how uncomfortable and cold it was.

Turning his head the other way, Sun attempted to take in the rest of the room. However, he soon found that his vision on the other side was almost totally obscured by a black leather couch. But he didn't care about that. Instead, he cared about something that was standing on the couch. It looked like a note of some sort, but Sun's eyes were screwing up and he was unable to read it immediately. After a deep breath a moment to collect his thoughts and mind, Sun tried again. In elegant, black scrawl the card read: _I'm had to go to work. Yang is in the other room. I expect an explanation. –Blake._

No greeting. No waiting for him to wake up. Nothing. Sun would have laughed if it wouldn't hurt so badly. It was just like Blake to save the day and then go to work the next morning. She had never been one to expect any sort of thanks, but Sun thought that this was taking it to a whole new level. Guess someone who worked for a Schnee long enough tended to be that way.

Sun tried to call out for Yang but only managed to croak out a moan. However, it turned out to be good enough. A crash came from the next room over and a familiar figure entered Sun's abode.

Yang wasn't wearing anything. Or rather, she wasn't wearing anything that Sun felt comfortable seeing her in. Apparently, she had completely abandoned her shirt in the middle of the night, in favor for only her flamboyantly yellow bra. That alone would have made Sun uncomfortable, but Yang's signature shorts had also shifted during the night as well; revealing a concerning amount of her hip area. Her eyes were sleepy, but she immediately took notice of Sun's state of consciousness and moved to help him.

"Sun! You're awake!" Yang exclaimed excitedly, betraying her groggy eyes. "What do you need?" Sun croaked in response and Yang nodded her head. Quickly moving to the kitchen, Sun could hear a glass being filled with water. Returning, Yang placed the glass to his lips and poured the water down his throat.

The cool liquid poured down into his mouth and refreshed the desert that had formed there. Sun coughed violently at first, spraying water all over Yang and hurting himself in the process, but then eagerly accepted the beverage. In seconds, he drained the glass and motioned for Yang to get another. She nodded and retrieved another glass, repeating the process. And then another glass. And after that another. Yet another followed.

By the time that his thirst had been quenched fully, Sun had drank five glasses of water. With a nod and a wave of his hand, he stopped Yang from getting another glass. Instead, he spoke, "Yang, please go put on more clothes. Thanks and all, but you're, like, my sister. It's weird."

Yang let out a laugh and motioned to her body with her hands. "Oh, come on Sun. You've walked in on me and Blake before its nothing you haven't seen." Sun didn't ease up with the glare that had taken over her features so she smiled and laughed again. "Fine, fine. Whatever. Stay still. I'll be back in a second." Yang turned and exited the room, making Sun blush in the process.

Sun sighed and tried the exact opposite of what his nurse had told him. Slowly, Sun placed his hands onto the ground. Luckily, it was a very short table as Sun was able to press his entire palm down without too much exertion. Gently, Sun started to apply alternate pressures to either of his arms, spinning his body, using his tale as an axle. Soon, his legs and the majority of his upper body were hanging over opposite edges of the table. His head was pressed uncomfortably into the leather of the couch, but that would soon be remedied. With a deep breath that pained him slightly, Sun prepared himself to sit upright.

However, Yang decided to make her reappearance at that exact moment. She had changed into her normal attire of an abs-less tube top and her short-short and long half-skirt combo. She had decided to leave her brown jacket off, leaving her strong shoulders bare.

"Aw, you didn't wait for me!" Rushing over, Yang pressed one hand to Sun's stomach and placed her other between Sun's shoulder's blades. "Easy does it…" Together, the two slowly managed to raise Sun so that he was sitting upright. There were quite a few grunts and hisses of pain during the process, but soon Sun could sit on his own without any support. "There you go! Good as new!" Yang exclaimed happily.

Sun nodded but grimaced. He held out an arm to Yang. "Help me stand up. My legs are fine." While she didn't look like she wanted to help, Yang still moved under the arm and wrapped one of her own around Sun's waist. Just as slowly as sitting him up, the pair managed to get Sun onto his feet. While he was weak, by using his tail and every structure that could support him, Sun was able to stand. Slowly, he started to shuffle towards the kitchen. He was famished.

Yang moved past him, not bothering to offer help that wouldn't have been accepted. She reached the kitchen before he did and started to try and prepare some sort of food for Sun. Figuring that he wouldn't be able to eat anything solid, Yang started grabbing fruit from the fridge and tossing it into a blender for her friend. By the time that Sun reached the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room; Yang was able to place a glass full of thick liquid in front of him.

Sun eyed the liquid suspiciously and then looked up at Yang. "Is this safe?"

Yang placed a straw in the beverage and smiled. "Of course it is! I used to make smoothies all the time for Ruby when she was sick as a kid!" Yang rubbed the back of her neck, disrupting the mane of yellow hair in her possession. "I mean, you're not _sick. _But I think this counts, right?"

Sun leaned down and took a sip of the drink. It was thick and took some time to fully travel up the straw, but when it hit his mouth, Sun was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't terrible. Actually, it was good. _Really_ good. Which was surprising considering Yang's reputation for anything concerning the culinary arts. Not wanting to seem greedy, Sun left three fourths of the liquid still in the glass. "Thanks Yang. What happened?"

"I think I should be the one asking you that, Monkey Boy." Yang winked at him. "But, if you must know, Blake and I were walking from the _Sundrop_ and we saw someone lying on the ground. Being the good Samaritans that we are," Sun rolled his eyes, earning and laugh from Yang, "we decided to see if we could help. Turned out to be you. So we took you here and did some surgery and that's about it." Yang grabbed an apple and took a bite of it. "Your turn."

Sun sighed heavily. "Operation went poorly, got hurt, got betrayed, passed out, spent some time dreaming, woke up here." Sun passively waved his hand around in a circular motion, taking another sip from the drink. After swallowing, Sun looked around a bit. "Where is 'here,' anyway?"

Yang nodded and swallowed the piece of apple that had been occupying her mouth. "I know right? Apparently, Blake has apartments like this set up all over the city." Sun' eyebrows shot up, asking the question without his mouth. "I guess in case she doesn't have enough time to get to the hospital?" Yang shrugged. "I don't know." Yang took another bite of her apple. Speaking with her mouth full, she continued to speak, "Maybe for situations like this? Blake's been more and more paranoid ever since she started working for Weiss. Occupational hazard I guess."

Sun nodded in comprehension. Made sense for a security adviser to be paranoid. Not like Blake had been the most carefree to begin with. "I thought Blake was supposed to be working last night."

"Nah, Weiss sent her off. Said she worked too hard. So she came to the _Sundrop_. We were going to, um…" Yang caught herself. "Catch up. When we found you. Yeah." Yang sheepishly rubbed her neck again.

Sun rolled his eyes. "You know, as much as I like to think of you guys as my sisters, I can't." Yang looked like she was about to shout in protest but Sun shook his head to stop her. "How can I call you guys sisters when all you guys do is screw each other? Velvet showed me the spreadsheet." Yang burst out laughing. "I also know that you and Ruby cross that red-line all the time but whatever."

Yang sobered up at the mention of her antics with her sister, but still remained smiling. "Yeah, yeah. You just don't get it. How long have you been in Vale? How come you didn't call us up for reinforcements on this 'op' of yours?" Yang made air quotes with her fingers. She eyed Sun up and down, taking in the extent of his injuries. "Certainly looks like you could have used it."

Sun grimaced. "Only flew in four days ago. Was setting something up to hit the White Fang pretty hard with Az…" Sun tasted something gross in his mouth at the mention of his friend. "I thought you guys were busy."

Yang rolled her eyes. "Sun you know that we can always find time to help a friend. Besides, how suddenly could a big operation like this come up?" Yang questioned.

Sun stumbled before answering. She was right. They had never let him down before. Why would a last minute raid against the White Fang be any different? Surely if he had asked, any one of them would have answered in the affirmative. Why had he refrained from asking his closest friends for help? It hadn't been some sort of macho-bravery thing. It couldn't have been. He knew that anyone of the members of RWBY could probably kick his ass. That wasn't a question.

"I… I don't know why I didn't call." Sun ran a hand through his hair, noticing that it had fallen flat. "It came up pretty suddenly. Mayor approved it for immediate execution. We had to act last night. It was out only opportunity."

Yang frowned. "That doesn't make any sense. Immediate execution orders still have a week of prep, don't they?" Yang leaned forward and onto the counter, making Sun try and avert his eyes. "Why would last night been your only opportunity? Cause of the Fall Festival?" Sun nodded in the affirmative. "Why? Was your target in a population dense area that would have needed to be evacuated or something?"

Sun moved to take another sip of his drink but stopped. Yang was right _again_. While she was smart, there was no way that she knew more about the way the police interacted with the government than he did. He should have _known_ that immediate ops are still allowed a week to organize. He should have _realized _that the warehouse wasn't anywhere near a public area. So the Fall Festival was out as an excuse for the suddenness. How had two things slipped so easily from Sun's mind? How had he let that happen? How could he have been so _stupid_? It had been so obvious it was a setup from the beginning. Sun ran a hand through his hair again and let out a heavy sigh.

"I don't know Yang. Now that you're pointing all of these things out to me, it seems pretty obvious that I got setup." Sun blew out a breath and slapped his hands on the table in rapid tandem.

Yang smiled. "Well, not like Blake calls me Miss Obvious for no reason." Her expression grew solemn. Her eyes going from playful to serious in a flash. While it was startling, Sun didn't mention it. It had been something that he had gotten used to over the years, and attributed with her years as being Ruby' mom. "Why'd they set you up?"

Sun grimaced. "Stop asking questions I can't answer Yang." His companion smiled at him. A thought struck him. "If you see Az, don't give him any info. He's with the White Fang now." Yang's eyebrows shot up in surprise. She had often exchanged tips on the scum of Vale's underground with Az. The two weren't exactly best friends, but they had a special kind of work relationship.

"Why?"

"Before he tried to kill me, he said something about them having his kids."

"Oh."

A pregnant silence hung in the air. Neither of the two friends wanting to acknowledge the fact of betrayal. To them, it was one of the Cardinal sins. No matter the cost; betrayal was never an option. Kicking the ass of whoever was trying to force that situation was the only option. No excuses. No exceptions.

"There has to be something else going on here Yang." Sun bit the inside of his cheek. "Az wouldn't just turn for no reason. Even with his family on the line, he wouldn't just _turn_. No way. I know him well enough to know that."

Yang nodded. "Yeah, he didn't seem to be like that kinda guy. Only talked to him once or twice, but he seemed pretty tough." Yang straightened her back and tapped her fingers thoughtfully on the table. "Bribery?"

Sun shook his head. "He never cared about money. He wouldn't be a police officer if he did." Yang nodded with understanding. Sun rubbed his beard thoughtfully. "The leader of the White Fang, when I was fighting him, there was something up with his voice. Something weird."

Yang hummed. "What was his name? Maybe I've heard of him before."

"Dalfid Daja Albīeria."

Yang thought for a minute before responding. "No, I would remember a name that unique. Any distinguishing features or anything?"

Sun thought back to his fight, trying to remember what the guy looked like. "Yeah. Dark skin. Purple clothes. Voice sounds like silk." Sun stuck his tongue in his cheek. "Oh yeah, big horns. Gigantic horns. Never seen horns that big before."

Yang waggled her eyebrows but didn't bother to make the lewd joke. Again, she took a minute to consider her answer, racking her brain for anyone who fit the description. Her eyes lit up. "Oh yeah! I think I got a guy like that not too long ago." Sun leaned forward intently. "Drank a lot and muttered some stuff about paying some people back. Didn't say who. But it didn't sound like just one person, so I wouldn't think he's just after you." Yang shrugged. "Got nothing else."

Sun frowned, thinking about Yang's answer. Why would the leader of the White Fang hang around in a bar infested with huntsmen and huntswomen? He had seemed pretty intent on killing Sun, so why would Yang be telling him that it was a larger vendetta? Who was this guy? Things weren't adding up.

Sun dragged a hand through his beard and went to take another gulp of his smoothie. However, when he brought it up to his lips, he found that the glass was empty. Apparently, he had finished it several minutes ago. He could already feel his energy returning. While his body hurt, it wasn't anywhere near the sate it had been last night. Hoping Yang wouldn't tease him too bad for his mistake with the drink, Sun placed it back onto the table.

"Yang, would you mind giving me a lift?"

Yang shook her head, making her hair fly around wildly. "We'll have to walk a bit to get to my ride, but if you can manage that sure. Where to?"

Sun needed someone with more information. Sun needed someone who knew everything about every inch of the city. He needed someone who was paranoid.

"Schnee Dust headquarters."

* * *

_A/N: You guys know the deal. Drop a review if you liked it. Thanks for reading._


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: Three updates in one week. Wow. I certainly set you guys up for disappointment. Also, I did change my pen name. Other one seemed cocky and arrogant, so you know. Enjoy_

* * *

The process of getting to the Schnee Dust headquarters almost rivaled the adventure Yang and Sun were having trying to get _into _the building.

First, Yang had to find something for Sun to wear. She had scoured the entire apartment for clothes, but had only managed to scavenge a purple blouse and a black tie. Both belonged to Blake and neither were his size. Sun had tried to argue that he was fine without a shirt, but Yang had stopped that. Nobody walked around the streets wrapped like a mummy. And nobody got in to a classy place like the Schnee Dust headquarters looking like he did. After some more arguing and Yang uttering the phrase, "If you don't need a shirt, I don't need a shirt," Sun put on the blouse and tie. The blouse was far too tight and the buttons on the front threatened to pop. The tie barely came down to Sun's belly button. Matched with his baggy sweatpants, Sun almost looked worse than before. After Yang found some of Blake's gel, and Sun was able to spike his hair back and look in the mirror, he decided that he _did_ look worse.

Following their clothing debacle, the pair had reach Bumblebee, Yang's motorcycle. As it turned out, Yang's perception of "a bit," and her injured companion's perception of "a bit," were two totally different things. As it turned out, the two had to walk close to three miles to reach the bike. When questioned on why her bike was so far away, Yang could only respond with a shrug. "I dunno. Blake likes to walk when she's drunk. So I think we walked from the _Sundrop_ instead of driving." This had earned a few annoyed glares and choice words from Sun, considering that his walking skills were still limited. While it had stopped hurting to walk, he still didn't want to overexert himself. Best to leave most of his energy for the healing process.

The actual motorcycle ride to headquarters had been something else. Not only had Sun forgotten how much he disliked motorcycles, but he also remembered why he tried to avoid any sort of vehicular interaction with Yang. She was a menace on the roads. The normally bubble and cheerful girl turned into an animal the moment a wheel was in her grip. It was difficult for Sun to hear over the sound of the bike's engine, but he was certain that she dropped more than a dozen f-bombs directed towards other drivers. It also wasn't uncommon for his driver to shake fists, speed through yellow lights, or hop curbs when she didn't want to wait to be able to turn. While Sun would like to think he had only been holding onto Yang so tightly for support, he knew that the real reason was closer to the fact that he was terrified for his life.

Not to mention the fact that the steady vibrations of the motorcycle hurt Sun. It wasn't anything unbearable, but he was not comfortable at any moment during the ride. Sun was able to feel every bump or crack or curb that Yang ran over shoot through his stomach and shoulders. He didn't complain to Yang, not while she was driving, but she certainly got an earful when they parked. Apparently, Yang hadn't considered the fact that Sun was injured. And apparently, Sun wasn't grateful enough for her transport.

But that was all behind them. Now the two were standing at the front desk of Schnee Dust and arguing with the lady who resided there. Her name tag read: **AMBER** and her eyes took after her namesake. She wore a crisp grey suit with a blue blouse underneath. She hadn't bothered with a tie, and the two top buttons of her blouse were undone. On her head she wore a small headset. While she seemed to be ignoring both Sun and Yang, her nails clacked loudly on the computer's keyboard.

Yang slapped her hands down on the desk, clearly frustrated. "I told you. I don't need an appointment to see Blake. I'm an exception. My friend is an exception. We are _both_ exceptions."

Amber looked the two up and down, taking in their apparel. "There are no exceptions. Would you like to make an appointment or would you like to be escorted out by security?" Her voice was hard. Apparently she dealt with people like Yang and Sun all the time. People who wanted a free pass to see the higher ups in the company. People who thought that they were hot stuff just because they killed a Grimm or had some sort of business deal. And it was Amber's job to make sure _those_ people, were dealt with.

Yang looked like she was about to start arguing with the women again when Sun stopped her. "Sorry ma'am." Wrapping a hand around Yang's shoulder, he led the two of them to a pair of seats placed in front of a glass wall. While Sun was slow to sit, Yang angrily huffed into her seat.

"This is _bullshit_." The volume of Yang's voice concerned Sun but he decided not to comment, noticing the red flakes on the edge of her eyes. "If Weiss would stop firing every _damn_ front desk operator, I wouldn't have to go through this every _fucking _time."

Sun nodded and took in his surroundings. It was just like any other lobby to a high-end company. Cold, marble floors. Black, grey, and white themed. Flooded with sunlight from the walls of glass that were on every side. A desk barring entrance to the rest of the building. It was a standard skyscraper, that much was for sure.

Yang reached down her shirt and pulled out her scroll. "I'll shoot a message to Blake. Hope she's not in a meeting or something."

Sun nodded again but didn't say anything. Instead, he pulled at the collar of his shirt and began playing with the buttons, threatening to undo them. Yang noticed the motion and finished tapping out her message.

"Oh no you don't," she slapped his hands away. "I know just how fidgety you are, but now is not the time and this is not the place. Control those hands of yours, buddy."

Sun bit the inside of his lip. "Yeah, I'll try." He knew Yang was right. In fact, he totally agreed with her. He hadn't even realized that he was messing with the buttons or collar. It was a bad habit he had picked up and never really managed to drop. He figured that it came from the fact that his early childhood had been spent in the southern regions of Atlas, known for their brutal and merciless summers. He had spent most of his childhood removing pieces of clothing and moving to new spots of shade to stay cool. While it didn't _really_ explain why he was always so fidgety, he liked to think it did.

"You okay Sun?" Yang questioned. Her voice wasn't filled with concern, more like curiosity of a caring friend.

Sun leaned forward, trying to stretch his stomach muscles and ignoring the pain. "Yeah." He bent and reached with his arms to touch his toes. Pain shot from his shoulders and radiated from his stomach but he ignored it. He grabbed his toes and wiggled them for good measure. "Just kinda tired."

It wasn't a lie. He _was_ pretty tired. It could only be expected that concussion induced sleep wasn't the most fulfilling sleep. But it also wasn't one-hundred percent the truth. Sun's mind had been occupied trying to draw lines and connect the dots between various pieces of floating information. And it wasn't going well.

He knew that Pharaoh had gotten Az to betray him. But he didn't know why, and no logical explanation could be drawn as to how Pharaoh could have managed such a feat. Sun knew that Pharaoh had a larger target than just him. But he didn't know who, or how large that target was. While the White Fang was notorious for attacking humans who were discriminatory, it was unheard of for them to attack with no provocation at all. So it wouldn't make sense that Pharaoh was trying to target the entirety of Vale or plotting something similar. Lastly, Sun knew that Pharaoh had a special voice. He had deduced that Pharaoh's semblance had something to do with his voice, but Sun couldn't figure out the specifics. It would make sense to be persuasion based, but if that was the case, Sun wouldn't have been able to break free of it without help. It could also be completely an act, and it all be telepathic in nature. But that wouldn't make sense either, because Sun had trained his mind to be highly resistant to any sort of psycho-attack.

It was frustrating for Sun. He wasn't used to not being able to figure out a problem. Normally, it would be an hour and a half sit-down session and he would be able to come to a logical and probable conclusion. But now, after an entire morning of thinking, he still hadn't made any sort of progress. Instead, the dots and facts were leading him in circles. Sun hoped that Blake was going to be able to shed some light on things.

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Sun smiled and thought to himself of speaking devils while he moved to straighten his back again. He had forgotten to do so when he had gotten lost in his thoughts.

Out of the elevator stepped an intimidating looking woman. With her heeled boots, she was easily six feet and change. Almost her entire wardrobe was black. In fact, the only things that weren't black were her silver belt and deep purple tie. Her blouse was slightly ruffled and looked to be a bit un-tucked but Sun attributed that to the fact that she had probably been working up until only a minute ago. Her hair was slicked back with copious amounts of gel and an extra pair of cat ears stuck out from the top of her head. The women caught sight of her two friends and moved to greet them.

"Blake!" Yang got up from her seat and lovingly wrapped her arms around the girl, lifting and spinning her in the process. While Blake didn't seem to enjoy the process, she didn't fight it. She knew better than that.

Blake rolled her eyes at her partners behavior and looked over to Sun. The young man smiled sheepishly and got up from his seat with only a few stutters and hesitations. "Are those my clothes?" Sun nodded and Blake let out a sigh. "Alright. Well, come up to my office." The trio made their way to the elevator. But on their way, they stopped by Amber's desk. Blake turned her eyes on the girl. "These two are exceptions. Always let them up. Always let them in. Never check their weapons." Blake didn't wait for a response from the cowering Amber before she led her troublemakers away.

* * *

"I have a meeting with Weiss in a few minutes, so this will have to be quick." Blake explained. She had led them to her office. The office itself accurately represented its occupier. It was almost immaculate to the touch, and highly organized. There were almost no decorations save for two chairs and a desk of humble make. The only color other than black or dark brown in the office came from a small cherry blossom tree that resided on Blake's desk. Sun had given it to her several years ago, after their last run in with Adam. It made him happy to see that his present had survived that long, but found it odd that the only decoration had come from him and not one of her other close friends. Hoping the burning on his face wasn't showing, Sun realized why her other gifts might not be present in the office.

Sun leaned forward in his chair, trying to stretch again. "We need some information Blake."

Blake's eyes shot over to Yang and her eyebrows rose questioningly. Yang shrugged. "I don't have any information on the guy. Figured you might." She smiled at Blake. "You usually do."

Blake nodded and stood up from her desk. She swiftly moved to a file cabinet that was hidden in the corner. "Name."

"Dalfid Daja Albīeria."

Blake looked over from her cabinet at him with eyebrows raised. Sun shrugged and repeated the name. With a nod, Blake began to rifle through the files.

Yang spoke up in the silence that followed. "Sounds foreign. No way he's from Vale. I would have heard about him from _one_ of my contacts if he had been stirring the pot too much." Sun nodded in agreement and Blake made a noise that made it seem like she agreed as well. "I've been thinking, and he probably moved up the ranks of the White Fang somewhere else in the world, then moved to Vale recently."

Sun hummed thoughtfully, another bad habit he had picked up in Atlas. "But what's in Vale that's so important?" Silence hung in the air, only to be disrupted occasionally by the noise of Blake's files being moved. It was a hard question to answer. There were a lot of important things in Vale. But then again, there were a lot of important things all over the world. So why would Vale be special?

Blake pulled a manila folder out of her cabinet and slammed the drawer shut. Sun could see the name of his friend written in Blake's handwriting on its side. Unfortunately, when Blake slapped it down on the desk, Sun noticed that it was very thin. Moving to stand up and ignoring the pain, Sun leaned over the edge of Blake's desk. "Not much in there."

Blake looked at him with a faint smile playing on her lips. "It's not the size that matters. It's the contents." Yang laughed at the joke and held her hand up for a high-five from Blake. Her wish was granted and a hearty _slap!_ filled the air of the room while Sun rolled his eyes.

"I think that if there's a lot of considerable content then that person is far more important than someone with only a little content." Sun smiled as he earned a slight blush. Yang laughed again. Sun decided to press his luck a bit farther. "I mean, just look at my file. I think that would provide an accurate example of both size and content."

Both girls laughed this time. Sun smirked at his own success. It had been awhile since he had hung out with both Blake and Yang at the same time, but he wished it hadn't been. He enjoyed spending time with the too. They balanced each other nicely and Sun could find a comfortable middle between them. Being able to go tit-for-tat with Yang and then being able to discuss Atlas literature with Blake afterwards. He wished that he was able to spend more time in Vale with them.

The laughing died down and Blake smiled warmly at Sun. Apparently, Work Blake had faded and Friend Blake was now present. "It's good to see you Sun. Now," Blake flipped open the file and observed the top page. "You're right Yang, this guy is from Atlas. Doesn't say where, but I'd say southern regions are the most likely considering his skin tone." Blake moved her finger down the page. It looked to be some sort of arrest record. "Yep. Grew up on the streets. Fought and stole for money because he ran away from an orphanage." Blake turned the page. Sun recognized the papers immediately. "Looks like he was taken off the streets by someone." She turned the page again and an obituary greeted their eyes. "Mentor was killed in a robbery gone wrong." Blake moved her eyes up to meet Sun's. "Sounds familiar."

Sun grimaced and made an uncomfortable noise. All the information did sound familiar. _Very_ familiar. In fact, if he hadn't known they were talking about Pharaoh, he would have assumed they were discussing his past. It was eerie how similar the two cases were. Sun didn't like the feel of it.

Blake moved her eyes back down to the file and turned the page. Another arrest record. However, this one was dated much later than any of the other files were. "Looks like he dropped off the map for a while." Yang commented. The date read that he had been arrested five years ago. The cause: property damage and criminal mischief.

Blake nodded at Yang's assessment. "Looks like he fell in with the White Fang while he was off the radar." Blake drew her finger down the paper, trying to find any relevant information. "Says here he doesn't have any sort of physical semblance. Test came back negative when they tried it." She looked at both Sun and Yang. "Might help to know."

Sun whistled. That didn't make any sense. He had been _sure _that this guy's semblance was persuasion. His tongue was way too sharp to be normal. Telepathy was ruled out too. In other words, Sun was back to square one on trying to figure out what Pharaoh was capable of. He sighed in frustration.

Blake looked at him but didn't say anything. Instead, she flipped to the last page housed in the file. It was a white page with a small rectangle printed on it. Sun couldn't read the print, but apparently Blake could. "And he got here three weeks ago." Blake shut the file and moved to put in back in her cabinet. Eyes following her, Sun noticed that the drawer she pulled open was filled with files.

"Jesus, Blake." Blake looked over from her cabinet at Sun with a questioning look. "I thought you only kept tabs on the bad guys?" Sun motioned with a hand towards her cabinet. "Those aren't all bad guys are they?"

Blake shook her head and placed her file back in. "I keep tabs on everyone Sun." A sheepish smile crossed her face. "Sorry. I take my job pretty seriously."

Sun laughed. "The only thing serious about that is how illegal it is."

Blake took her seat and pulled a document out of her desk. "It's only twelve life sentences." She began to browse the document. Sun could see the title referencing the Solstice Celebration, but didn't bother to read the details. Most likely boring, real job type stuff. "Well, that's all the info I had. Sorry if I didn't help."

Sun sighed heavily. "Yeah, don't worry about it. Thanks for what you had." Sun stood up from his seat and stretched, the buttons on the blouse screaming in protest. Which reminded Sun, "Hey, do you want this back?" Blake looked up at Sun, amber eyes filled with sarcasm. Before she had a chance to sass him, Sun held up his hands. "I'll just give it to you now."

Sun slowly began to undo the buttons on his shirt while Yang and Blake said goodbye to each other. While he couldn't hear what they were whispering to each other, he was sure it wasn't entirely appropriate considering how red Blake's face turned and the slap on the leg that Yang earned. Turning away to give them some privacy, Sun finished undoing the buttons on the blouse. Nearly choking himself in the process, Sun swiftly removed the tie as well. It was ironic, considering his heritage and the fact that he couldn't stand what was commonly referred to as a "monkey suit."

Just as he was pulling off the blouse, the door swung wide open and Weiss stepped onto the premises. Head coming up from her scroll, a flash of surprise crossed her face. She didn't fully understand what she had walked into. Sun was there, stripping down and wrapped in bandages. So were Blake and Yang, but they weren't stripping. They were just locked passionately by the lips. Which was an improvement from the last time that Weiss had found the two in Blake's office.

"What in the world is going on in here?" Weiss's voice was cool but serious. She wasn't playing games. "Blake, I was very clear last time that you and Yang were…" she coughed lightly, "enjoying the privacy of your office."

Blake quickly broke contact with Yang and stood from her chair. "Yes, Ms. Schnee, sorry about that. They were just leaving." Blake motioned with her hand for her two information seekers to leave the room.

But Yang had other ideas. "Oh come on Weiss, it's not like your office is any better considering what Ruby, Blake, and I have done to you in-"

"Yang!" Weiss's face burned read and her eyes shot over to Sun, apparently not approving of him knowing of her private life. But her glare was quickly stifled as Yang came over and wrapped her arms around the tiny woman.

"It's been too long Weiss!" Yang exclaimed happily. She lifted Weiss of the ground with her hug and started to spin slowly. "You never come by the _Sundrop_ anymore! We need to have some fun Weiss!"

"Put me down this instant!" Weiss's face had gone red with rage instead of embarrassment this time. She had _not_ gotten used to being twirled around by Yang, unlike both Ruby and Blake. Even after all their years together at Beacon, and the years after in which the worked together, she had hated it whenever Yang picked her up. Which was every time that Yang saw her Snow Princess. Which really explained why Weiss didn't drop by the _Sundrop_ that often.

Yang laughed and put the fuming CEO down. With a brush of her hands, Weiss flattened any wrinkles that had appeared on her shirt. Despite having just been picked up and spun around, Weiss still looked incredibly well put together. There were no wrinkles on her white shirt or pants. Not a single strand of hair had come out of her signature ponytail. Her suspenders had remained steadily fastened to her shoulders. Her red tie hadn't moved an inch. Sun was impressed. He wouldn't have fared as well against a bear hug from Yang. Must have come from a lot of practice.

Blake spoke up now, deciding that playtime was over. "Sun, Yang, it was nice seeing you both but I have to ask you to leave. Miss Schnee and I have a _planned_ meeting." Blake put extra emphasis on the "planned" part, but it was lost on Yang. With a smile, Yang started out the door and waved goodbyes to her good friends.

Sun smiled sheepishly at Weiss. "I was just, returning a shirt." While he was telling the truth, Sun could tell that Weiss didn't fully believe him. Apparently, office threesomes were a more common problem than he had originally thought.

"Have a good day Sun. We'll have to set something up while you're in town." Weiss moved past him and towards Blake. Having a thought, she turned back to him. "If you're not busy that is." She had temporarily forgotten anyone could be busy except for her.

Sun nodded in agreement. "Yeah." He lifted the shirt to show that he had totally removed it and looked around. Not seeing anywhere to put the shirt and tie, Sun decided to toss them on top of a shelf. With a wave he slowly walked out of the office, shutting the door behind him.

* * *

Weiss looked at her head of security with quizzical eyes. "They needed some information."

Weiss nodded in comprehension. "Still keeping that file cabinet huh? I thought that I told you to get rid of that."

Blake smiled at her boss as they both took their seats at the same time. "I like to know what I'm dealing with. I like to be able to do my job well."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "You're paranoid Blake. It's not like Sun is every going to turn on us. So why do you have his file in there?" She motioned towards the cabinet with her hand.

"Just in case." Blake winked at her boss. "Oh, and you also outlawed intercourse within the office building and we both know how well that worked."

"Blake!"

* * *

_A/N: I enjoy writing Weiss. Too bad I don't have much opportunity to in this story. Feedback, reviews, all that jazz._


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N: It's embarrassing how much I have written this past weekend. Probably close to forty or fifty pages for you guys this past weekend. Consider it an apology for being so bad about lying to you guys about when I am going to update. Enjoy._

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"So now what?" Yang leaned herself against a phone booth, crossing her arms.

Sun sighed and started pacing. Their meeting with Blake had been a total bust. They hadn't learned anything useful about Pharaoh at all. They were still at square one. While Sun knew he couldn't blame Blake for not having more information, he would think that someone who is renowned for her paranoia and information network would have something on _the leader of the White Fang._ But she didn't. And here they were. Sun bit the inside of his lip.

"I don't know."

Yang pushed her tongue thoughtfully against her cheek. Neither talked for a minute or two, leaving the sounds of the city to be their only company. The cars gently rumbling by, the sound of steam rolling out of the sewers, the shuffling of feet on the sidewalk. Sun had never liked the city, but he didn't mind it so much when it was this calm.

Yang looked up from her chest. "Do you know any more information brokers?" Sun motioned his hand towards Yang, telling her the answer, but she pressed on. "Just because Blake and I are the two biggest, doesn't mean we know everything." Yang leaned forward. "We could go pay a visit to Junior."

Sun shook his head and ran a hand through his beard. "No," he hummed thoughtfully. "You two are the only brokers I know. And honestly, how often is it that one of your cronies knows something you don't?"

Yang nodded her head and gave a look of acceptance. "What about Az?"

"What about him?" Sun's voice was filled with disgust. While things still weren't adding up, he knew that Az wasn't a good guy anymore.

Yang rolled her eyes at the venom. Apparently, she was either more forgiving, or more sympathetic to the reasons behind Az's betrayal. "We can find him and get him to spill the beans on your friend. Shouldn't be too hard."

Sun felt for his scroll, but realized he had either lost it in the waters of the river, or left it back at Blake's apartment. Instead, he turned his head skyward and looked for the sun. While the building blocked his view, he was still able to find the brightest light coming from about thirty degrees over the horizon. So it was about nine. Sun tapped his fingers thoughtfully on his side.

Az would be at work by now. Which meant that Sun knew where to find him. Sun was about to agree with Yang's idea, when he stopped himself. He wouldn't be able to waltz into the police station like usual. If Az was against him, the entire police force was against him. Which meant that walking into the police station would be like someone who is allergic to wasps, kicking a wasp's nest.

Yang seemed to pick up on this idea before Sun even mentioned it and made a noise of annoyance. She wasn't used to working without a lot of information either. Her eyes suddenly lit up with a dangerous glint. "We could stake out the station and jump Az when he leaves!"

Sun thought about this proposition. It would solve his problem of having to get to Az, dealing with the police, and would be an easy day for him to try and recover a bit. He looked at Yang and gave her a thumbs-up. "Sounds good." He started to move towards the motorcycle but stopped. "You know where the police station is right?"

Yang looked at him, eyes shining and confused. "Sun, why do you hurt me so?" She held a hand up to her chest and feigned a sob. Sun rolled his eyes at her theatrics and allowed Yang to climb onto her motorcycle before repeating the action behind her. Yang looked back to make sure her passenger was somewhat secure. "You good?" Sun nodded and grimaced, wrapping his arms tightly around Yang's waist. He felt a laugh rather than hearing it as the engine roared to life.

"Let's go!"

* * *

Sun hated stake-outs.

Yang hated stake-outs.

Everyone hated stake-outs.

What they boiled down to was sitting in the same place for six or seven hours straight while no progress was made on the case at hand. Normally, the comfort of a car was at least present, but with only Yang's motorcycle present, they didn't even have that luxury. Instead, they had to sit on a bench across the road from the police station. In the cold, autumn air. Without any sort of jacket or covering. While Yang offered to provide some body heat, given that she was almost never cold, Sun politely declined. It would bring more attention to them if they were wrapped up together.

Or at least that's what Sun wanted to tell himself. The truth was probably closer to the fact that he didn't want to be _that guy_. He didn't want to be the guy who starts resorting to body heat to fight the cold. No way. That could be saved for sub-zero conditions. Right now, he could deal with a bit of a nippy chill. Besides, his bandages kept some of his body heat in. So he wasn't totally freezing.

Or at least, that's what he had thought at the beginning of the operation.

By the time that the sun was about to start setting, Sun had decided to swallow his pride and allow Yang to casually sling her arm around his shoulder. While he never _actually _asked for it, the act of him steadily scooting closer had been more than enough of a hint for her. Not like it was any skin off her back for helping a friend.

Sun was annoyed. "There's no way that he's in there." Yang made a questioning noise. "He would have gotten lunch by now. He doesn't pack food, ever." Sun felt Yang nod. "We have to find out what's up. He doesn't take days off."

Yang looked down at her frozen friend with a mischievous smile. "We could jump the next person who comes out and interrogate them." Sun considered the option. While it wasn't the most legal option, it would certainly get results faster than sitting on a bench would. And Sun was most certainly not going to sit, freezing to death, on this bench any longer. He needed results. Now.

"Sounds good." Sun wormed is way out of Yang's arms and stood up. While the sitting hadn't been good for his muscles, it had been good for his recovery time. For the entirety of their stake-out, Sun had been channeling his aura as best he could to his wounded and weak areas. So when he stood up, instead of a stabbing pain in his stomach that set off a chain reaction of pain in his shoulders, only a dull throb ailed him. It felt good to be almost totally in control of his body again.

Sun bent down and grabbed at his toes, looking over at Yang. She was performing a very similar exercise and they made eye contact. Both of them laughed at their ridiculous orientation, but soon stopped and straightened their back. Yang pointed over to an alley that was less than a hundred feet from the entrance to the station. "That one?"

Sun nodded. "That one." Looking both ways, the pair crossed the street and walked towards the alley. In it, there were a few piles of garbage and a dumpster. Sun motioned to it with his hand. "We'll get them behind there."

Yang looked at him skeptically. "You aren't in any shape to be exerting yourself like that." She poked at his shoulder and he felt himself flinch from the pain. "I'll do it."

Sun frowned and tried to rotate his arms. She was right. It still hurt to move his arms around. There was no way he would be able to fight anybody or anything in his current state. He bit his tongue but nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Yang grimly smiled, acknowledging his injured state. "I'll be the lookout. I'll whistle when an officer is coming."

Yang agreed to the terms and hid behind the dumpster. Sun walked casually towards the alley from both directions but couldn't see Yang either way. Satisfied that she had hidden well, he took his place leaning against a lamp pole. Sun wrapped his tail around the post and he stuck his hands in his pockets to try and keep them warm, distinctly aware of his missing heat blanket.

The bulb in the lamp flickered and came to life above him and Sun looked up. While he was positive that this wasn't the same streetlight, he couldn't help but remember last night. How hot the lamp had been and how his concussed mind had become absorbed with the light and all that came with it. He shook his head and brought his vision to his feet instead. Red boots assaulted his eyes. With a squeamish gulp, he looked away from those too. The color reminded him too much of the sticky puddle he had been lying in last night. He had never been so close to death before. It made him uncomfortable to think about.

Sun looked over both of his shoulders, checking the street. Nobody was coming. He sighed and moved to readjust himself on the pole. He had never really mastered the virtue of patience. While he could practice it with operations and ideas, _physical_ patience was something else. Standing still or sitting still for any amount of time had been a problem for him for as long as he could remember. It was different if he was hanging from his tail or was meditating. He didn't know why; it just was.

Sun ran a hand through his hair and checked the street again. But this time, it wasn't empty. Walking away from the police station, towards Sun and Yang's alley, was an officer. He looked to be a young man, probably a greenhorn. He was exceptionally pale and seemed to glow in the dying light of the sun. But his uniform looked to be legitimate and he looked unaware. Perfect.

Sun started whistling when the young officer was twenty feet away from the entrance to the alley. He heard a sharp tap from the dumpster and figured that was Yang's way of telling him that she had heard the signal. While it hadn't been subtle in any way, the young officer didn't seem to notice the interaction. Sun smiled after finishing his whistle. Obviously a rookie; the instincts of an older detective would have been set off by now.

The officer stepped out in front of the alley and Sun stopped whistling. Yang burst out from behind the dumpster and grabbed the officer. While she didn't have any sort of mask to cover her face, and her outfit was unique, she somehow managed to twist the officer so that he didn't see any distinguishing features and was facing away from Yang. She pulled his arm into a lock and pulled him behind the dumpster. While Sun walked over to join the pair, he heard the younger man struggling and swearing violently at Yang, threatening her with his position.

"Yeah, yeah." Yang pressed the officer's face into the bricks of the alley. "Now how about we keep quite?"

"You dumb bitch! Do you know who you are messing with? I will _fucking _end you. I will destroy everything you love and have ever held dear and I-aaah! Aaah!"

Yang had twisted the man's arm so that it was about to snap. She moved close to his ear. "How about you shut that mouth right now, if you don't want to get hurt that is." The officer stopped struggling and only breathed a curse into the bricks. Yang gave a thumbs-up and motioned for Sun to come behind the dumpster with a wave.

Sun joined the two so that they were all hidden by the bulk of the dumpster. While it was a tight squeeze, it made the act more believable. Sun started patting down the officer, pretending to search for weapons or money. Yang mouthed an "oh" but didn't say anything. Apparently she had never faked a mugging before.

"So," Sun began. He kept his voice low and tried to make it intimidating. "Why should we keep you alive?"

"Because I'm a _fucking police officer_." But his voice was too loud. Yang pressed his face into the bricks and hissed for him to be quieter with his next response.

"Your point?" Sun sounded casual as he stuck his hand into the man's pocket and pulled out a wallet. He flipped it open and looked it through. Apparently their captive's name was Opak Haut. He was twenty years old and single, still living at home. His wallet was exceptionally sparse with only a license, credit card, and a member's card to a dust shop. Sun looked in the money compartment and counted out fifty lien. He pretended to pocket the money, even though Opak couldn't see him. He was more of a method actor.

"You don't think I have a microphone on me, recording this entire conversation?" Opak lied. Sun knew they didn't. That cost too much. "Don't think that we'll check the cameras on the outside of the station and see you? Killing me isn't the wisest option." Opak sounded confident, despite the fact that lying through his teeth. Sun looked over to Yang, only to find that she was staring at him. He gave a look and pointed to their captive. He mouthed _who does this guy think he is?_ Yang smiled and disguised a laugh as a cough.

"Alright." Sun placed the wallet back into Opak's pocket. "How about some information then?" Opak sounded like he was about to start protesting but Yang lifted his arm and threatened to snap it. Instead of protesting, Opak let out a whimper of pain. "Good." Sun smiled, making it seem like the whimper had been an agreement. "Where is Az Yure?"

"Who?"

"Az Yure." Sun repeated. "Chief of police. Where is he?"

"Oh, that guy." Opak sighed. "He quit. I've only been working for a few days, but I heard he handed in his resignation two weeks ago. Yesterday was his last day. Didn't know him well, but I heard he wasn't the kinda guy you wanted to mess with."

Sun's eyebrows shot up. He looked at Yang gave a thumbs-up, signaling that they had gotten the necessary information. "Alright. Sleep well. I trust you won't be a tattle-tail."

"Hey, what are you-" Yang lightly popped the man's head against the bricks and he crumpled down, unconscious.

Yang pushed the man with her foot. "What a scumbag." She helped Sun to move Opak so that his feet were fully hidden by the dumpster. She grunted a bit as she lifted his shoulders and head to prop up against the bricks. "Well that's an interesting development."

Sun grimaced. "Yeah. Surprise." He dropped Opak's feet and started to move towards the exit of the alley. Yang jogged slightly to catch up to him and they exited shadows together. "Well, we knew he had betrayed us, but why would he resign? If he had the police on his side then his buddy in the White Fang would have more power to swing around."

Yang nodded. They were making their way to Bumblebee slowly, both of them walking at a thoughtful pace. "Hmmm. Maybe he had to?" Yang looked at Sun. "Conditions of their deal?"

A thoughtful hum. It would explain why Az had resigned, but didn't explain why Pharaoh would want that. Answers that only lead to more questions. He had to get answers that lead to conclusions. He needed to talk to the source of the questions.

"Yang, we have one more place to go to."

* * *

Az's house was a modest abode. Two stories tall, white picket fence, trimmed lawn. It was the Vytal Dream. It was located in a neighborhood that was no more than five miles from a school and surrounded by neighbors on all sides. It was the perfect house for a family.

It was the worst house to break into.

Sun and Yang had stopped by Blake's apartment before they had ridden over to Az's house to pick up a few things. Yang had grabbed her brown jacket and had also applied copious amounts of black makeup to her face, to obscure her features since she refused to wear a hat that would screw up her hair. Sun grabbed a black beanie that he found lying in a closet and various other objects needed for a break in. Sun also clipped his weapons to his pants again. He felt strong enough to use the gun portion, but if he needed to swing them around, it would be a wasted effort. He wasn't still wasn't strong enough for that. Using the same makeup that Yang and placed on her face, Sun painted his bandages black as well. Yang had to get is back, but it was a general success.

By the time that they had fully prepared for the heist, the sun had completely fallen beneath the horizon. While the obscurity of the night would have covered their approach, considering how unique Yang's vehicle was, they decided to park a block away. No need to draw attention immediately and gradually over time. Better to draw attention all at once and violently. Or at least, that's what both Sun and Yang thought.

But now that they were both standing on the back porch of the house, preparing to breach, something felt off. In fact, it was the lights. All of the lights in the house were off. While Sun wouldn't put it past Az to have his kids in bed early, he knew that Az had chronic insomnia because of his job; and that didn't just disappear in one night. And what about his wife? Where was she in the house? No way she had gone to bed so early either. Az had often complained of her reading into the late hours of the night and keeping him up that way. No cars were in the driveway either. It wasn't right. Sun knew it wasn't right.

He motioned with a hand to Yang that he was about to start the pick and for her to keep lookout for any nosy neighbors. Sun knelt down and looked at the lock. It was pretty standard, nothing special or unique about it. It wasn't surprising to Sun for Az to have this kind of lock. He was sure that the older man was confident in his abilities and probably had a high end home security system. Yang and Sun would have to be fast if they wanted to be able leave without handcuffs on.

Sun pulled a bobby pin out of his pocket and a screwdriver from the other. He began to pick the lock.

It wasn't a complex process, and Sun was an expert. He had learned how to pick locks when he had been living on the streets and had perfected the talent by the time Sensei had taken him in. Even though he never stole money or items from the houses to sell, food was frequently his target. Sun couldn't remember how much food he had stolen over the years. It had gotten so bad, that by the time that Sensei had taken him in, he had stopped paying for food entirely. He stole everything. He had a slight relapse a few years later after Sensei had died, but had since fixed his habit. He couldn't really be trying to build healthy relationships between the humans and the faunus while he was stealing and providing a bad example. Bad publicity.

Sun pressed the tumblers up and pushed with the screwdriver. The door clicked and swung inwards. Yang heard the noise and moved to enter the house first. While she wasn't familiar with the layout, she was the stronger of the two, in case Az decided to make a stand. She stepped across the threshold and Sun followed, unclipping one of his gunchaku from his hip and holding it loosely.

They were in the kitchen and their footsteps tapped loudly on the tile. It would have bothered Sun, but he quickly realized that it didn't really matter how much noise they made. He clipped his weapon back onto his pants.

The kitchen was barren.

All of the shelves were wide open. Not a single pot, pan, box of cereal, or can occupied them either. Nothing. Empty. As Sun looked around more, he noticed more items missing. There was no table or chairs. The fridge wasn't humming with electricity and refrigeration. The microwave clock wasn't gleaming with angry green light. Either the power was out and this family only ever ate out.

Or Az was gone.

Yang had noticed the peculiarities as well and lowered her arms from the offensive position they had taken. "What the hell?" Yang whispered. Her voice bounced off of the walls, reverberating without the interference of furniture. She split from Sun and moved out of the kitchen and into the living room, trying to find an explanation.

Sun hummed thoughtfully in the silence. He moved out of the kitchen and made his way up the staircase leading to Az's office. Upon reaching the door, Sun turned the knob and it opened freely. Yep, that did it. Az was gone. There was no way that he would leave a door like that open. He always wanted to keep his kids as far away from his work as possible and his wife was no different.

Sun stepped into the office and looked around. All the drawers to the file cabinets were wide open and flaunting their emptiness. The desk was no different. All drawers open with no contents. Sun bent his head backwards and let out a heavy sigh, dragging his hands down his face.

His only lead had been a dead end. Now Az was gone and Sun had no way of finding him. And if he didn't have a way of finding Az, he didn't have a way to find and confront Pharaoh again. Still at square one. No progress had been made all day with Pharaoh and his agenda. While Sun had been closer to finding a way to leave square one, now he was back to searching for a method to leave.

Sun turned his head back to the ground and was about to leave the office when a flash of white caught his eye. Looking towards the light, Sun found the source. Caught underneath the corner of one of the filing cabinets was a scrap of a paper. It was small and looked to be torn from a larger piece, but it was a scrap of paper no less. Sun pushed against the cabinet and slid the paper out with his foot. Bending down, Sun picked up the paper.

He flipped it over and nearly cried out in joy. Written in a hasty scrawl was: -_du Soleil, Menagerie. Your flight is on the twenty first. Don't miss it._ The scrap was signed with the symbol of the White Fang. Sun couldn't read the full name of the town, since that was part of the paper that had been ripped, but that didn't matter. There could only be so many towns with that kind of ending.

Sun quickly moved down the stairs and whispered for Yang. She emerged from behind a corner with a quizzical look on her face. Waving the paper with his hand, Sun motioned for her to follow him out. She nodded and the pair left the empty house, Yang locking the back door behind her. Together, they slunk around to the front of the house and began walking towards Bumblebee.

When they were a safe distance away from the house, Yang started to rub the black makeup from her face. "What's that?"

Sun had kept his eyes glued to the paper since they had left the house. Now they had somewhere to go. Now they could find Az. Now they had moved out of square one. Sun turned to smile at Yang triumphantly.

"It's just what we need."

* * *

_A/N: Menagerie is a French word so it would make sense that the towns are in French. Fucking finally making some progress with this story. Closer to answers. Alright. I know a few of you might be frustrated with the pace of story and I apologize. I don't mean for it to be like this. I just kind of write and usually like to have my chapters be a scene. Sometimes those scenes don't seem to be very important (a few have some foreshadowing so they are a bit important) but I don't want to write a ten thousand word chapter because that takes way too long to read. So, sorry about that. Thanks for reading._


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